Far from feeling like a stranger when he returned to the Collingwood lineup, for James Aish it was as though he'd never left.
The Magpies have talked repeatedly about the strength of their system and it's a big reason why they're back in the finals.
It stood out to Aish when he returned in round 21 after a serious knee injury.
Aish joined Collingwood's lengthy casualty list when he hurt his posterior cruciate ligament injury in round six.
The utility has slotted back seamlessly into the Collingwood defence as a running half-back.
"It's been interesting, because I came back in the team after roughly three months and it felt pretty much the same, which was quite surprising," he said.
"Just the way we're structured and the way we play, everyone knows their role and does it.
"When you get experienced players back and you've played with them ... Goldy and Howey (Tyson Goldsack and Jeremy Howe), for example, you do have that underlying chemistry and you can get the job done a bit easier."
The knee injury was the latest setback in Aish's AFL career.
After playing in two premiership teams as a teenager at SANFL club Norwood, Aish managed 21 games in 2014, his first season at Brisbane.
But injuries and inconsistent form mean he has not played more than 15 games in a season since.
After a big off-season, Aish made an encouraging start to this year.
Then came the knee injury and initial fears that he would need season-ending surgery.
Instead, Aish wore a brace and was able to heal quickly.
"You can look at it both ways - it was lucky I was playing well at the time," he said of the timing of the injury.
"Obviously I was very disappointed, but once there was any hope of playing this year, I just used it as a challenge.
"Every benchmark, timeline, I was trying to beat it ... I quite enjoyed that."
