Essendon hybrid threat Jake Stringer has stated he is ready to hit the ground running after enjoying his best pre-season yet as a Bomber.
Stringer was laid low with a foot injury throughout last season, capping the premiership Bulldog's campaign at 17 games.
This inability to see out seasons has been a common thread through Stringer's time at Tullamarine, with the 29-year-old having played only one 20-game season as a Bomber - his first with the club in 2018.
Yet, after building up slowly on the track ahead of Christmas, Stringer stressed that he was ready to hit the ground running and would take part in both of the Bombers' pre-season scratch matches.
"I'm in a really good position now where I've been back training for five-six weeks," Stringer told 7 News.
"We've got our games coming up now, and I'll be ready for all of those."
The one-time All-Australian claimed that while he was in great shape physically, his ability to hit the ground running has been built by several mental tweaks.
"It's probably the best mentally I've been, and that's probably helping physically as well," Stringer added.
"In that sense, it probably is the best pre-season I've had so far.
"When I had my foot surgery (in September), I really just tried to figure out things in my life I needed to figure out, and there's things that I'll continue to work on all the way through.
"it's not one certain thing, it's just about making sure you have a healthy mind and a healthy body.
"I've had troubles throughout my whole career, and there's things that I'm sure at a later date I'll speak about, but at the minute, I'm just in that building block process."
And though Stringer was keen to keep his cards close to his chest, he was happy to plant his flag, stating that he hadn't plateaued as a footballer, telling Bomber fans they could expect a spike in performance this season and into the future.
"I would say that there's still another level for me to go in my footballing journey," Stringer pressed.
"I'm starting to feel the benefits of going away and working on myself now coming into these pre-season games and training."
Stringer enters the 2024 season without a deal beyond the end of the year.
He and his Bombers will take on St Kilda (Friday, February 23 at RSEA Park) and Geelong (Friday, March 1 at GMHBA Stadium) during the pre-season before starting their season proper against Hawthorn at Marvel Stadium on Saturday, March 16.
