ROOKIE-LISTED defender Cameron Delaney will play his first game in the navy blue and white hoops when he lines up in Geelong's VFL team against Box Hill at Simonds Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Delaney, who played five AFL games for North Melbourne in 2012 and one in 2013, has recovered from the foot problems he first suffered while on the Roos' list.

"It's been a bit of a long time coming, but I'm pretty excited about getting out there on Saturday," the 23-year-old told geelongcats.com.au.

"I had a couple of moments where I thought I'd be back a little bit earlier, but I'm finally going to get out there and have a bit of a run around.

"I think I'll play deep in defence. Hopefully there'll be a lot of the ball down my end and we'll see how we go."

Delaney grew up in Geelong and played junior footy with local club Grovedale, but he has battled injuries for the past two and a half years.

His last match was 14 months ago when he took to the field for North Ballarat in a VFL game against Casey Scorpions.

After suffering soreness around his big toe, he underwent two lots of surgery in an attempt to fix the problem.

It was during his recovery from the operations that he was delisted by the Roos.

North Melbourne pledged to redraft Delaney in last year's rookie draft, but the Cats swooped in and brought him back to his home city.

"The guys down here at Geelong have been excellent," Delaney said. "I couldn't say a bad thing about them.

"They've been really supportive, and now they're getting around me for my first week back."

Still, Delaney had been hoping to start proving himself to his new teammates and coaches far earlier this year.

"It's nice to get out there on the track and earn a bit of respect by showing the boys what you can do," he said.

"But it's hard at times when you're in rehab and not many people know how hard you're working."

Delaney, who is 194cms tall, has now been back in full training for more than a month, and the workload has given him confidence that his foot will stand up to the rigours of playing games.

"I'm always going to have a little bit of pain, but that's something I'm just going to have to live with," he said.

The Cats' fitness staff are similarly bullish about his prospects.

"We're as confident as we can be," physio Mark Young said on nib Medical Room. "We've exposed him to a decent block of training, and … we're confident he'll go well on the weekend."

Delaney has just a one-year contract with Geelong, so he understands that he might be playing for his career in the three games that remain in the VFL's home and away season.

However, he's going to approach each match as if he has nothing to lose.

"I feel like I just need to get out there and give it a good crack," he said. "Hopefully things fall into place, because I'd love to continue on.

"The coaches and the development staff just want me to get out there and not think about off-field stuff.

"They want me to get amongst it and enjoy my footy, then hopefully the other things will take care of themselves."