Former Essendon midfielder Heath Hocking has opened up about his drugs ban and his desperation for an AFL lifeline.
Hocking told SEN Breakfast on Wednesday he believed he still had something to offer but admitted his dream of a second chance would be unlikely.
"I'm a 29-year-old turning 30, but I think I've still got a bit of footy to play," Hocking told SEN.
"I still feel I can play at AFL level, but there's not much interest out there.
"The season that just went my body was actually in really good shape. I didn't miss a game through injury and was actually covering the ground well.
"My GPS data was good and I feel like having a year off and then the year before not playing too much it sort of helped my body really recover and get ready to go again.
"It's probably the disappointing part that I'm still fit and able to go. Twelve years experience in the game is something you can't really just get.
"My game is hard in the contest and I think a lot of teams need that."
Hocking was one of the 12 Essendon players who were forced to sit out the entirety of 2016 and struggled to return to the side when the suspension ended.
"I found it a lot harder than I thought coming back [from the drugs suspension]," he said.
"It was probably more so the touch stuff. I remember in early February still I was battling with that clean hands.
After only playing seven games in the last three years, the writing was on the wall for the 29-year-old.
He was told he would not be offered a new contract last month, ending an 11-year, 126-game association with the Bombers.
Hocking was taken at pick no. 20 in the 2005 rookie draft.
The first delisted free agency period begins on Wednesday, November 1.
