Geelong’s 206cm ruckman, Dawson Simpson, is firmly focused on delivering a solid pre-season so he’s up and ready for round one, which is something he hasn’t been able to do for three years.

Currently Simpson is on track to achieve his goal of hitting the field in time for the first game of 2014. However, he knows the road will be hard and long, having been off the track due to multiple injuries.  

“The knee is great, it’s very strong… and the back is great as well,” Simpson told Cats TV.  

“Fitness is as expected. I’m a little bit behind the main group at the minute but I should be back in full training after Christmas, so I’m really looking forward to getting back in there.

“I’ve been able to withstand pretty much everything that has been thrown at me to this day - so hopefully the body keeps holding up.

Simpson, who has been on camp since Thursday last week, is really enjoying his time in Coffs Harbour. According to Simpson, getting away is very important, as it helps to re-energise the group before the real pressure of the season begins.

“It’s always great to get away; to get a different perspective on things and relax a little bit in a different environment - but also train hard,” Simpson said.

“We’re under no illusion that we’re here for a holiday, it’s a training camp and it’s been taken on board.

“It’s just great to freshen things up and not get too stale.”

Before the pre-season really kicks up a notch, Dawson hopes to be completely healed and in a position to increase his fitness so he’s ready for action.

“Short-term goal - is that I want to get through the rest of this preseason without delay or injury, that’s my main goal for now.”

“Then I’d really like to play round one. I haven’t played a round one for VFL or AFL for three years.

“To be able to hit a season after a full pre-season would be great and then I’ll just take it from there - but to play consistent AFL footy each week would be really good for me and that’s obviously going to be the goal for me this year.”

Having both ruckmen, Hamish McIntosh and Simpson, up and about added a new dimension to the training track. However, when they weren’t training our on the field the two players made sure they worked tightly together to maintain their skills.

“Even though Hamish has been injured and myself as well we’ve always, if not doing the ruck work together, we’ve always had to sit down and watch some footage and talk about things,” Dawson explained.

“It’s really good that smacks (McIntosh) is up and about and I’m up and about and that we can actually do that (work on the ground) and get a bit competitive.

“That again will ramp up in January and we’ll start to have some full contact and contest stuff - but it’s really good for both of us.”
Overall, Simpson is in top spirits and feeling positive about the year ahead.  

“I feel great, the body is really good - I’m a bit sore after the last few days - but other than that really good.”  

Click on the video above to catch the full conversation with Dawson Simpson on Cats TV.