When Keegan Brooksby woke up with a severely swollen arm in July, the last thing he expected would be a season-ending injury.

A visit to the Pindara Hospital emergency room found the rookie ruckman had a blood clot in his arm that would rule him out for the remainder of his inaugural 2015 campaign.

Brooksby described the events as an ordeal, but after months of rehabilitation is back on track and ready for next season.

“It’s put me a little bit behind the eight-ball but I’ve done a fair bit of work so far and I’m tracking really well,” he said.

“I’m just taking what comes and working to improve my all round game.

“Hopefully I can get a few more games to start with and see what I can add to the team.”

The South Adelaide product played three senior games in 2015, kicking two goals in a Round 14 victory over North Melbourne.

With Tom Nicholls entrenched as the number one ruckman at the club, and the arrival of Dan Currie from the Kangaroos, competition in the ruck division at Metricon Stadium is fierce.

However, Brooksby is excited by the challenge.

“It’s certainly healthy for everyone,” he said.

“We’re all pushing each other an trying to get the best out of each other.

“It’s not just good for us personally, but it’s good for the team and the club.”

Six weeks into his second pre-season in Carrara, the 25-year-old has been working closely with the high performance team as he strives to get his body into peak condition for the upcoming season.

“It’s been a good start to the pre-season, so far I’ve just ticked off the first couple of running sessions for me personally this week, so everything’s going well at this point,” he said.

“I’ve had an individualised program during rehab to suit my needs and monitor my loads so I’m really happy with it.

“I’m hoping to get back in the New Year and get back into main training straight away and from a team point of view I know we’d love a few more wins so come new year we’ll be in a good position to see what happens if we keep building and work even harder.”