ST Kilda star Dylan Roberton is aiming for a Round 1 comeback and wants to produce his best football after last year’s heart scare.
The defender wears a surgical implant but said it has caused no problems in the last fortnight since he resumed full-contact training.
He said there had been no more heart issues.
Roberton said he did give much thought to his health drama, even though specialists still do not know what caused the problem.
He has not played since collapsing in April during the round-four game against Geelong at GMHBA Stadium.
“I’ve been doing everything since post-Christmas, full contact and everything.
“That was the hurdle that probably was going to most test me out, but that’s been fine … I’m ready to go.”
The surgical device is a miniature defibrillator, that would activate if Roberton’s heart had another episode.
The device also transmits information to specialists about his heart.
“If anything happens they give me a call, but I haven’t had a call since it happened, so obviously everything is going well,” he said.
“They still didn’t come down to it (the cause), which is why they wanted to take all the precautions with the devices and all that sort of stuff.
“But they were happy enough with responding to medication … I’m ready to go.”
Roberton said he was not worried about his heart going haywire again.
“I would have thought I’m thinking about it more, but I was speaking to Richo (coach Alan Richardson) the other day and he asked does it cross my mind,” he said.
“I haven’t really thought about it since it happened, which is a good thing.
“There are no worries from my end – I’m sure my family are a bit more worried than I am.”
Roberton made the All-Australian squad in 2017 and he wants to play even better than that season.
“I probably took it (football) for granted a bit, like everyone probably does, and you don’t realise that until you might have it taken away from you,” he said.
“I’m definitely looking forward to getting back out there.
“I don’t want to come in and find my way again – I want to come back and play better than I did that year.”
© AAP 2019
