Zac Smith has rocketed into the frame for senior selection after the Gold Coast SUNS ruckman declared himself “ready to play” against St Kilda at Etihad Stadium on Sunday.

Should Smith be selected, his return date will mark a year to the day that he injured his knee against the Western Bulldogs at Metricon Stadium.  

“I’m fit, strong and feel ready to play.  I’ve known for a while now that I would be returning to play footy this coming weekend and that has really helped with my training,” Smith said.

The 205cm giant was placed on the long-term injury list at the start of the season, and as such was required to spend a minimum of eight weeks on the sidelines. During that time Smith was given the all clear from his specialist to return to football, and has spent the past six weeks training with the senior team as well as completing additional conditioning sessions.

“My knee feels really good, I feel as if I’ve jumped the mental hurdles that people talk about  in recent weeks, I’ve been really lucky to be able to talk regularly with both Matthew Primus and Dean Solomon during my recovery, both of them have been through it before, Matty a few times, so they have been extremely helpful.

“I understand that it would be unusual to go straight into the senior team, but the conditioning work I’ve done over the last month or so gives me great confidence to put my hand up for selection should the coaches want to play me."

Senior coach Guy McKenna said Smith’s availability gave the match committee plenty to think about.

“Zac is confident that he is ready to go and Stephen Schwerdt (high performance manager) echoes his thoughts," McKenna said.

“As a match committee we’ve discussed it briefly, and we will continue to do so throughout the week, it is fair to say it would be unconventional to play him straight up, however his training program would suggest he is fit enough to do so

“Zac aside, we've got some other tall options; Charlie Dixon is back in the team and Rory Thompson and Sam Day have played the position at times throughout the year."

Smith has played 44 games since making his debut in the GC SUNS' inaugural game against Carlton at the Gabba in round 2, 2011.