Michael Rischitelli admits he'll be playing for his AFL future for the rest of the year in a Gold Coast team currently fighting to revive their season.
Rischitelli has spent the past 12 months on the sidelines recovering from an ACL injury but will make his return in Saturday's clash against fellow battlers Collingwood at Metricon Stadium.
He is one of four key inclusions for the out-of-sorts Suns, along with Pearce Hanley, Aaron Hall and Gary Ablett, the latter who passed a fitness test on Friday to confirm his place in the team after missing last week's heavy loss to Sydney with a hamstring injury.
Rischitelli, 31, is out of contract at the end of the season and concedes his form will decide whether he will receive a new deal.
"I'm probably playing for another contract at the moment so I'll be doing everything I can to try and get one," he told reporters on Friday.
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"If the body allows me to (I'll play on). I'm feeling pretty fresh (after) 12 months off.
"It's too early for me to say.
"The back end of the year is going to see whether I'm going to play next year or not."
Coach Rodney Eade described Rischitelli as the "heart and soul" of the club and said on Thursday he wanted him to play on.
Rischitelli has played four times in the NEAFL since returning to full fitness, including two full games.
He said just making it back to the AFL is an achievement in itself.
"I feel like the game's gotten quicker again. But I know we've got some guys here that are going to help me along the way with that," he said.
Rischitelli has been with Gold Coast since they joined the AFL in 2011 and admitted he thought they'd have played finals football before now.
Unless they can produce some sort of late-season turnaround, with the Suns currently 14th on the ladder with a 6-9 record, that long wait looks like it will continue.
Collingwood's outlook is similarly grim, with the pressure ramping up this week on their coach Nathan Buckley who, like Eade, is coming off contract.
"We'd like to be in a better position but this is where we're at. This is a big game for us," Rischitelli said.
