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Forgotten ruckman Stephen Doyle admits next season may be his last in Sydney unless his fragile body holds together.
Doyle managed just twenty games in his first four years at the Club, but looked to have overcome his injury woes in 2004 - when he was put up as trade-bait - by playing 19 games.
Sadly, it was back to sidelines last season when the 24-year-old sustained a season-ending knee injury in the opening round, and he knows next year it will be all or nothing.
"I knew after the season that there would be no guarantee of me staying in Sydney," Doyle told sydneyswans.com.au.
"Then the Club said to me 'Look, it's not that we don't think you can play, it is that we don't think your body can hold up'.
"Obviously they have given me one more chance and I have signed for one more year so I have just got to make the best of the opportunity they have given me and repay that faith they have shown in me.
"Hopefully I have an injury-free season and play well."
Ironically when his teammates were training for the flag in September, Doyle was training for his future.
"The medical staff has been pretty good," he said.
"We got to the stage towards the end of last season when I was training with the group again and that was probably mainly because of the rehab and physio and doctor and everything else that was done behind the scenes to get my body right.
"It got me another year at the Club as they got me to train for the last four weeks of the season so I could show I can still contribute to the team.
"I was at the stage in the last couple of weeks where I probably could have played in the Reserves, just in case something happened to one of the ruckmen, but that was a very, very, very long shot.
"So the Club pretty much said that my best chance of getting picked up by Sydney for next year was to just continue training, and not play because there was a bit of a risk for me to play having not played for all year."
The medical staff will manage Doyle's pre-season "a little more", with more specific training and less running with the group, to keep him fresh for the start of the 2006 home-and-away season.
Doyle managed just twenty games in his first four years at the Club, but looked to have overcome his injury woes in 2004 - when he was put up as trade-bait - by playing 19 games.
Sadly, it was back to sidelines last season when the 24-year-old sustained a season-ending knee injury in the opening round, and he knows next year it will be all or nothing.
"I knew after the season that there would be no guarantee of me staying in Sydney," Doyle told sydneyswans.com.au.
"Then the Club said to me 'Look, it's not that we don't think you can play, it is that we don't think your body can hold up'.
"Obviously they have given me one more chance and I have signed for one more year so I have just got to make the best of the opportunity they have given me and repay that faith they have shown in me.
"Hopefully I have an injury-free season and play well."
Ironically when his teammates were training for the flag in September, Doyle was training for his future.
"The medical staff has been pretty good," he said.
"We got to the stage towards the end of last season when I was training with the group again and that was probably mainly because of the rehab and physio and doctor and everything else that was done behind the scenes to get my body right.
"It got me another year at the Club as they got me to train for the last four weeks of the season so I could show I can still contribute to the team.
"I was at the stage in the last couple of weeks where I probably could have played in the Reserves, just in case something happened to one of the ruckmen, but that was a very, very, very long shot.
"So the Club pretty much said that my best chance of getting picked up by Sydney for next year was to just continue training, and not play because there was a bit of a risk for me to play having not played for all year."
The medical staff will manage Doyle's pre-season "a little more", with more specific training and less running with the group, to keep him fresh for the start of the 2006 home-and-away season.
