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By Michael Whiting

Gold Coast SUNS defender Jack Hutchins has made a remarkable recovery from a pre-Christmas training mishap assistant coach Dean Solomon likened to a "car accident".

Just prior to the Christmas break, Hutchins fell awkwardly in a marking contest during a match simulation session.

At first he thought he'd injured his elbow, but it turned out to be far worse.

In addition to hyper-extending his elbow, the 19-year-old had rolled his ankle and hyper-extended his knee.

The knee injury turned out to be the greatest concern and kept him in a brace for four weeks.

But now he's back up and running again and has joined the rehab group.

"It was a car accident," Solomon said.

"He was in all sorts, the boy, but he's back and it's been a remarkable recovery.

"Hyperextension is not a good feeling and he's done that to most parts of his body in that accident but he's all right, so we're happy about that."

Hutchins, the 191cm, 92kg dreadlocked defender who played six games last season, said the injury was worse than he first thought, but something he had now put behind him.

He said since returning to training he had worked hard with strength scientist Chris Gaviglio to re-learn his running technique.

"We all tend to be a bit lazy with our technique and it's all just about picking your heels up and getting a lot more relaxed running," Hutchins said.

"It gets you stronger. The more repetition you do, you learn the good habits instead of slipping back into the old ones."

Hutchins admitted the injury had been a setback but was confident of being available for the NAB Cup and was hopeful of pushing his name for round one selection.

"The boys are training really well and it's great that we're into the match practice now and getting used to the new structures and game plans we have in place," he said.