Flynn Perez has his sights set on a return to the playing field as soon as the coronavirus enforced postponement of the season is over.
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The former Sandhurst and Bendigo Pioneer missed all of 2019 after undergoing a knee reconstruction.
The knee injury didn't stop North Melbourne selecting the smooth moving midfielder/half-back with pick 35 in last year's AFL National Draft.
After the best part of four months training with the Roos, Perez was hopeful of getting back on the park when or if the season resumes.
"The knee is good. The club has been really conservative,'' Perez said.
"The club has taken every precaution. I'm feeling really good and this break might even help me a bit.
"Hopefully, after the break I'll be ready to play."
Perez said the biggest adjustment he had to make jumping from underage footy to an AFL club was the intensity at training.
"Backing up day after day was big,'' he said.
"The club looks after you really well. You work really hard, but you get to recover well to ensure your body is right.
"It's the intensity of every session. You can't slacken off. If you're one per cent off you get exploited.
"The consistency of rocking up each day and putting in 100 per cent...it's been good."
Perez has spent a lot of time in the gym since December and his body is showing the benefit of the hard work.
"The club has placed a big importance on my strength, particularly in my legs,'' he said.
"Doing that comes with upper body strength as well.
"I think I'm benefiting from being in an elite program and working on my body everyday.
"I did put a lot of work in my rehab year, so I think that's held me in good stead.
"I haven't so much put on heaps of weight, I'm just doing the right exercises.
"It's more about the quality of work I'm doing and I'm seeing results from that."
With the club shutdown because of coronavirus concerns, Perez will continue to work on his fitness from the confines of home.
"I went to the club and loaded up the car with heaps of weights and a few different machines,'' he said.
"The strength and conditioning guys will send out programs for us to do over the next eight weeks or so.
"Being by yourself will make things harder, but you've just got to get through it."
Perez has taken an instant liking to North Melbourne senior coach Rhyce Shaw.
"Rhyce has been awesome,'' Perez said.
"He has that ability to connect to players, but still get down to business.
"He's wrapped his arms around the players, but at the same time he's pretty hard on us.
"I love the way Rhyce goes about it. Hopefully, we'll have a good connection over the years."
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