FROM the outside, playing three games at the back end of a season looks like chump change for a No.1 draft pick – but for Jonathon Patton it meant the world.
The Greater Western Sydney forward, taken with the first pick in the 2011 NAB AFL Draft, had come off his second full knee reconstruction and was looking for some light at the end of a long, dark tunnel.
The Giants were patient and made him return through the NEAFL, but the 198cm, 103kg power forward got his chance against Essendon in round 19 last season.
Patton didn't take the world by the storm – he kicked three goals in three games – but what it did for his confidence was worth its weight in gold.
"My goal last season was to play a senior game, so I did that," Patton told AFL.com.au.
"Playing three games was really good, but I wasn't back to being fully confident in myself, that's why I sat out the last two games and waited for pre-season.
"In training, I'm that much more confident now.
"When I was out there, although I wasn't playing the greatest footy, I felt like I belonged out there.
"Gaining confidence against big-bodied AFL players is a slow process. Having a long time out of the game, it takes a while to get back, but it's coming back now.
"Last year was about ticking little boxes, and next year is about playing consistent football and playing well."
With his two reconstructions behind him, this is Patton's first full pre-season since the build-up to the 2013 season.
It's the first time in the Giants' three pre-season training camps at Noosa that he's been able to participate with the main group.
"The last two years I've been here I've been doing rehab work," he said.
"You look at the boys training, and as hard as they're working, there's no better thing than doing it with your teammates.
"Rehab gets pretty lonely while you're running around the ground while you're watching your mates doing skills and all that fun stuff.
"Pre-season is all about improving your game and I haven't had that for a few years."
It's easy to forget Patton is still just 22 and has played 32 games.
Of those games, 26 have been alongside Jeremy Cameron.
What looms as one of the most exciting one-two forward punches in the AFL hasn't had time to get off the ground yet.
"A few years ago (2014) me and 'Jezza' played 12 games before he got hurt and we had just started to build that partnership where we know each other's games and who leads where - and then he got injured and I got injured," Patton said.
"That's the exciting thing - the more we train together and get to know each other, the better we're going to be as a team."
