In the early part of last season, Tom Nicholls emerged as the one of the competition’s premier young ruckmen. His athleticism and ruck craft separated him from his rivals, but in a cruel collision of knees the Victorian’s season was brought to a sharp halt.
 
The 22-year-old has endured more than his fair share of injuries during his stint at Metricon Stadium, but after successfully completing his rehabilitation from PCL (posterior cruciate ligament) surgery and overcoming soft tissue complications, the mobile tall has resumed training with the main group ahead of the Christmas interval.
 
Nicholls speaks with an air of frustration in his voice, understandable for a player who has been dealt a cruel hand in terms of injury. Now, he is ready to put his injuries behind him and compete for the No. 1 ruck mantle on the Gold Coast.
 
“I’ve just filtered back in, starting to do a few more drills with the main group which is good and building on my fitness,” Nicholls told SUNS TV.
 
“It was a frustrating year. (I) obviously ruptured my PCL, which was pretty unfortunate, but it’s feeling really good now and raring to go.
 
“(It was) just a clash of knees, classic ruckman injury. Since then I’ve had a repair down in Melbourne, ever since then I haven’t had any hiccups. It’s definitely game ready now, I’ve been full training, it’s feeling really good.”
 
During the opening stanza of 2014, Nicholls formed a formidable combination with the SUNS’ on-ball brigade. The 201cm ruckman demonstrated how crucial the art of tap ruckwork can be; with his deft hit-outs highlighting the vintage art.
 
Less than satisfied with the beginning of last season, Nicholls is focusing on continued development and improvement, and has sought out Gold Coast GM of Football Operations Marcus Ashcroft to help him map out his goals.
 
“I’ve done a bit of goal setting with Marcus Ashcroft, we’ve just focused basically on the short term – this two week block before Christmas, the two week block over Christmas and the four week block after that,” Nicholls said.
 
“At the moment it’s just putting session and session on top of session and getting that continuity with my training and after that we’ll start to look game wise and more specifically towards that.
 
“This time last year going through pre-season I was a bit underdone, so I definitely feel that I can give a lot more output on the field and improve on my year this year which wasn’t really up to my standards. I will get this pre-season under my belt and be raring to go from there.”