Jake Brimmer has revealed how powerless he felt as Melbourne Victory's season went from bad to worse.
The 2021-22 Johnny Warren Medallist played just 18 games last season after tearing his meniscus in February, before suffering multiple setbacks to battle his own demons.
He watched helplessly as Victory's season, already derailed by December's violent derby pitch invasion, plummeted further with the team missing the finals only a year after finishing second on the table.
"The hardest thing for me was not only the injury, but also watching my teammates and knowing that there was absolutely nothing I can do to help them," Brimmer told AAP.
Brimmer has come out the other side of his horror injury.
"Anything that could have gone wrong with my injury probably went wrong," said the 25-year-old father of three.
I managed to get an infection which was pretty serious and then got over the infection after about a month.
Then my knee wouldn't bend, so I needed to go in for a manipulation after the infection as well.
"I got used to sitting in bed and sitting on the couch for quite a long time but obviously you need to parent as well, you can't just stop parenting and just forget about them. So it was very difficult.
"I had a lot of stuff going on in my personal life as well during that period of time."
"Through all the struggle and the heartache of the injury and the stuff that happened in my personal life, I've come out bigger and stronger, and it's made me who I am now."
Coach Tony Popovic on Friday labelled the "mature" Brimmer and defender Jason Geria, who battled a hip issue last year, as effectively two new players.
"I've got goals this year to be bigger and better than I was two seasons ago," Brimmer said.
"My biggest thing this year is to win the championship and bring this club back to where it should be."
It's the type of lift Popovic expects to see from all his players.
"We feel refreshed, the boys have come in very determined, (with) a lot of energy, they're embracing the challenge," Popovic said.
"We want to show Melbourne Victory can do as we did two years ago."
"We were very, very competitive, had some success, challenged for the title and we want to get back to doing that."
That starts with Saturday's away clash with fierce rivals Sydney FC at Allianz Stadium.
"Anyone that's ever played in the Big Blue is excited by this game because the challenges fly in, there's always a fight and it's the way it should be," Brimmer said.
"Round one in Sydney - I don't think you can kick-start the league off any better than that."