Jy Simpkin is not interested in hiding his excitement ahead of what will be his first game in almost a year.

“I’ve been pretty nervous. This whole week has been pretty nerve-racking. The closer it gets to Sunday, the more the nerves kick in,” he told NMFC.com.au on Friday – a day after being selected in North’s JLT2 squad to play against Hawthorn at Arden Street.

In April last year, Simpkin broke his leg in a school game for Scotch College and required immediate surgery. As a result, he slipped down the draft order and ended up in North’s lap at pick 12.

It’s been a painstaking recovery process for the 18-year-old.

“It’s been really slow. It’s been a long ten-and-a-half months … it felt like forever,” he said.

But four weeks ago, Simpkin saw the light at the end of the tunnel after a brief chat with coach Brad Scott at training.

“Scotty came up to me and said, ‘be prepared for the Hawthorn game’,” he recalled.

While Simpkin admits to being a little unsure about his prospects of playing, he’s more than ready to go now – albeit a little anxious.

“Over the last couple of weeks I’ve done more and more. This week it’s stepped up again with more running and doing a lot more training, so today I’ll get through this session and looking forward to Sunday.”

Last week Simpkin watched his fellow draftees in Declan Watson and Nick Larkey play their first game against Sydney, and has leaned on them for advice.

“At the start they were a bit nervous but once they got out there the sort of nerves went away and it was sort of just another game of footy,” he added. 

“I’m not really expecting too much [of myself], it will just be good to be out there again … it’s been a long time in between games so hopefully just get my hands on the ball a little bit and juts be glad to be out there.”