In the second-half of 2014, Sam Fisher stared his football mortality in the eye. As a result of a persistent toe injury, the dual All Australian battled ongoing hamstring injuries that limited him to just 16 games in two years. And with his absence, came a realisation that his days might be numbered.

After countless hamstring setbacks, it took Fisher until Round 17 in 2014 to play his first game of that year. Since then, the mobile key defender has played 25 of the last 29 games to reignite a career that appeared on the brink of being extinguished.

Fisher played the first eight games of last season and the final ten games, with a hamstring strain intersecting the two stretches of uninterrupted football. Despite missing the middle part of the year, the two-time Trevor Barker Award winner finished ninth in the best and fairest to highlight his importance to St Kilda.

“I didn’t play my first game until Round 17 that year (2014) and I was probably one more injury away from (retirement) because I was out of contract,” Fisher told the Herald Sun.

“The first few hours after each hamstring reoccurrence you are like ‘That’s it, I’m done. I actually want to quit’.

“But I always knew that once I got it right, that I still had the attributes to play footy at AFL level and I played the last seven games of the season.”

At 33, Fisher’s body isn’t what it once was. It takes him longer to pull up between games than it used to in his prime, although it’s just a reality of more than a decade in the game.

Not that he’s complaining, his daily exposure to the plethora of young players at Linen House Centre keeps him enthused about what lies ahead for the club he has represented on 216 occasions.

“I’m not going to feel 100 per cent throughout the week, most weeks. A lot of it is doing recovery,” Fisher said.

“So I don’t have to be going flat-out on the track the whole time, and keeping up with the young guys.

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“But I love playing with all of them, I love their enthusiasm and spirit and how they just have a crack. It is so enjoyable to come to the club and work with these young guys.

“We want to improve and jump back up the ladder as quick as possible and hopefully I can play a role in that.”

It’s not only the wave of young talent that has Fisher excited about 2016. The form of Captain Nick Riewoldt and seasoned star Leigh Montagna – two of the other members of the 30s club – over the pre-season has instilled confidence into Alan Richardson’s playing list.

“The older guys have got some good footy left in them, like Joey (Leigh Montagna) and Rooey (Nick Riewoldt) are still among our better performed last year and have had really strong pre-seasons,” he said.

“And it looks like we have found a couple. Jade Gresham really impressed on the weekend and Jack Billings basically didn’t play last year.

“Plus Seb Ross and Newnesy (Jack Newnes) guys like that taking the next step and becoming real A-Graders for us. Hopefully it is a very exciting year for us.”

The arrival of Jake Carlisle last October was supposed to alleviate the reliance on Fisher down back this season. That move has been shelved for 12 months due to well documented reasons, meaning Fisher will be asked to shoulder another big workload this year, alongside another stalwart in Sean Dempster, who like Fisher has fought outside his weight class for the duration of his career.

“The guys aren’t getting any smaller, like (Jesse) Hogan and (Tom) Hawkins and Lance Franklin. They are massive men,” Fisher said.

“I am probably giving away 10kg on some of them (opponents), but I just love the challenge to be competitive against them and try and beat them.

“I try to hurt my men going the other way, that’s probably one of my strengths. The more they worry about chasing me, the less they are leading and dictating their position.”