As a former top-20 pick gets ready for his fourth year of AFL football, it seems staggering to consider it’ll be his first full pre-season.

Yet that is the situation Ben Jacobs finds himself currently in.

“Usually I’m in a wheelchair at this stage so this is the first time I’m in the main group before January,” Jacobs told NMFC.com.au.

Jacobs’ catalogue of injuries is impressive for all the wrong reasons, with a grand total of four surgeries over his past three pre-seasons.

“In my first pre-season I got glandular fever and because it was my first year, I wasn’t really doing most of the sessions.

“In my second, I had operations on my left and right ankles and then I had the same procedures last pre-season.”

After having his first off-season in which he was able to walk, Jacobs was given a program with an emphasis on weights. However the benefits don’t stop there as he enters uncharted territory.

“Because it’s been both ankles that have caused problems, I haven’t really been running at all in previous years,” Jacobs said.

“It’s going to feel like a long pre-season but I feel better already just being able to start with the rest of the group.

“You’re able to change a few things with how you go about it because you’re actually fit and healthy. You can add on an extra couple of kilograms because you can learn to carry it through the pre-season.

“Before that, it was all very strict with my diet so I wasn’t putting too much weight on my ankles for when I got back.

“Now I can have a full pre-season to learn how to run with it and work on different parts of my game instead of getting to mid-year and thinking, ‘ok now I can work on this and that.’ I haven’t had the luxury of a whole summer to do that before.”

After being shuffled around in a variety of positions during 2013, Jacobs was able to settle in the second half of the season.

With Andrew Swallow out indefinitely and the addition of Nick Dal Santo, the midfield rotation has spots up for grabs in the early stages of the season. However Jacobs is keeping his focus narrow, to the here and now.

“After playing as an inside mid in the second half of the year, putting on a bit of size now and being able to match it with the bigger bodies in the AFL is something that should hold me in good stead.

“I finished the year in the side so hopefully that continues. It’s more about getting a good base now with fitness and getting big and strong. Of course I want to play Round 1 and play in every game, but it’s a long way away so I’m just looking at right now and every session.”

In addition to the new on-field talent arriving at the club in the off-season, Leigh Tudor and Gavin Brown are highly rated assistant coaches who will be another valuable resource.

After being back on the track for just one week, Jacobs can already see the benefit of the duo.

“They’ve (Tudor and Brown) obviously come from some great clubs. The proof is in the pudding with what they’ve been able to do.

“They’ve been giving us great insight already with some of the drills and their different ways of looking at the game have got us thinking.

“So if they’re doing that now, who knows what they’ll be dishing out mid-season.”

The annual trip to Utah is just days away and it’ll be Jacobs’ first full trip. In 2012 he spent the latter third of the training camp in the United States, arriving after the Draft.

It shapes as a completely different experience, but Jacobs is looking forward to three weeks away from home.

“Last time we were kind of nursed through because we were new and of course I wasn’t running.

“It’s going to be interesting. I’ve seen a bit of the schedule and I know it’s going to be full-on but I’m just excited I’m moving.

“My goal is to not miss a session over pre-season and not miss a beat.”