Confident the worst of his injury woes are now behind him, Michael Rischitelli is locked in on producing his next best season in the AFL.

The 28-year-old midfielder has been a revelation since returning for duty in November, a week earlier than the rest his mature-aged team mates.

And it seems the early return has paid huge dividends for the deputy vice-captain, marked one of the strongest performers on the training track this summer.

Consistently running in the top-performing conditioning class, pre-season training has seen Rischitelli emerge as a mentor to endurance supremoes Dion Prestia, Jaeger O’Meara and David Swallow.

Displaying the energy and enthusiasm of a first-year player, the in-form Gold Coaster ha shown an unquenchable thirst to regain the sensational form that saw him awarded the Brisbane Lions best and fairest in 2010, and finish second-runner up in the GC SUN inaugural club championship.

But to do so, Rischitelli says he has had to improve his fitness and ground-ball work, as the form of Prestia, Stanley and O’Meara demanded central midfield roles in his absence.

“I knew I had to do something to get my body right as it was a bit behind everyone else,” Rischitelli said.

“So it was a building block for me this summer, and hopefully it gives me every opportunity to play consistent football this year.”

And with the League’s set to introduce new interchange cap rotations, the seasoned campaigner said the need to run out games had never been more important.

Unfortunately, the past two seasons haven’t resulted in much luck for the on-field marshall, with hamstring, ankle and elbow injuries restricting Rischitelli to just 25 senior appearances.

In 2013, the midfield dynamo was forced to watch half of the GC SUNS eight wins on the boundary line.

He says there was no greater motivator for him to return to the playing field this year.

“Every pre-season you do your best to try and improve, and although the last couple of year hasn’t been great for me, this summer has been my most consistent.

“So hopefully I can look to build on that heading into the 2014 Season.”