North defender Joel Tippett says he’s on track for a return to full training in near future.

Tippett suffered a fracture in his back, known as a transverse process, on the eve of the VFL season, a four to six week injury that deprived the number 36 a chance to put his hand up for AFL selection early in the season.

Tippett told NMFC.com.au the injury came as a result of a rather heavy knock.

“I just pushed off my man and went back to take a mark, and one of their forwards came through and got me pretty flush in the back,” Tippett said.

“I was in a fair bit of pain, I knew something was up.”

Despite the injury being classed as a fracture, it was never expected to keep the 27-year-old out of action for long.

“In terms of fracturing anything in your back, if you do your transverse process, it’s meant to be ok,” he said.

“Just depending on how it settles. It will be two weeks since I did it on Saturday, so (a return) anywhere (after the VFL bye this weekend) would be good.

“I’m finally pain free, I was laid out for a couple of days so it’s good to be able to move around again. I actually did a little bit of running today, so that was a good sign.”

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