Three weeks removed from Shaun Higgins’ knee surgery, his recovery is progressing smoothly and the next step is close to being reached.

“I’ll get off the crutches and onto the brace in the next week or two,” Higgins told NMFC.com.au.

“Hopefully we see some fast improvement after that.

“We’re looking at roughly 12 weeks (for the overall recovery), give or take. So far so good, everything’s going to plan at the moment but there’s still a long way to go.”

At the moment, still on the crutches for the time being, Higgins is spending the majority of time in the club’s gym.

“I’m doing a fair bit of upper body stuff (with) cross training and weights.

“I’m starting to make some good progress on the knee with some activation work and just making sure everything is fine around that so when I’m able to get off the crutches and get back into the movement, that transitions as smooth as possible.”

During his extended layoff, Higgins has had the chance to experience other sides of game-day. Against the Blues he spent the match in the coaches box.

“Scotty (Brad Scott) was really calm, and obviously we had a good result against Carlton that night. But from a players’ point of view it’s good to see the things they (the coaches) focus on and the attention to detail that they’re looking for.

“It was a good learning curve for me and hopefully I’ll get the opportunity in the next couple of weeks to continue to do that and learn a bit as well.”

Watch the full interview in the video player at the top of the page

For more NMFC injury news and the full injury list, visit the Anytime Fitness Health Hub