His first season at Geelong may have been cut short, but second-year Cat Matthew Hayball is now reaping the rewards from the early lay-off.

The club’s medical and conditioning staff made the decision to shut the 19-year-old down for the final months of 2016 and allow him to not only recover from persistent knee complaints, but get a head start on conditioning for his next pre-season.

So far, so good, according to Hayball.

“[It’s allowed for] a bit more of a focus on strength just to get myself into a position where I could get some more more continuity in the sessions come pre-season,” Hayball told Cats Media.

“I’m in full training now and haven’t been missing any drills. That’s the first time that’s happened since I’ve been here so it’s worked well.”

“That’s the important thing for me at the moment. I need to get some extra conditioning under the belt because I started off a bit behind the eight ball having missed a lot of pre-season last year.”

The South Australian has spent considerable time in the gym and says he’s put on roughly eight kilograms since arriving at the club in 2015.

But the extra conditioning and strength is not the only new frontier for Hayball, given he’s spent considerable time being used as a defender this summer.

“I played a little bit down there [backline] towards the end of the year and felt pretty comfortable. I’m just trying to learn as many roles as I can at the moment,” Hayball said.

“There’s a lot of experience down there in the backline so just trying to learn off those guys as much as I can. They’re all very good and quick to give you advice out on the track, which is very helpful.”

“I think [Andrew] Mackie in particular. I try to spend a lot of time with him. He’s got a lot of experience and he gives me a lot of good advice. I try to watch the vision and that sort of thing with him as well. He sees the game really well so he’s one that I try to spend a bit of time with.”

Watch the full interview with Matthew Hayball in via the video player above.