The past 12 months have been a rollercoaster ride for West Coast Eagles forward Jack Williams.

It’s been almost one year to the day that Williams sustained a ruptured spleen in a training exercise last pre-season, resulting in an extended stint on the sidelines for the first half of the 2023 season.

“It’s feeling fine now, everything is back to normal,” Williams said about the unusual injury.

“The recovery was a long process, about three months in total, when it first happened it was one month of doing absolutely nothing, which threw me off a bit.

“But once I was back at the club after that, working with ‘Killer’ (Mark Kilgallon, Head Strength and Conditioning Coach) and getting back into contact and stuff, it sort of flew by.”

Following a positive recovery, the 20-year-old was able to display his development and competitive instincts when called up to the senior squad in round 15.

“We got to nearly halfway through the season and I was back ready to play, and I was able to play a couple of WAFL games and a spot opened up for me in the main team,” Williams said.

“I was fortunate enough to play the last 10 games of the year, which I was really happy with, it gave me a lot of confidence going into this year and this pre-season.”

Williams, a 198cm forward, showed his versatility as he adapted a more forward-ruck style role to assist around the ball when necessary.

“I was called up to play deep forward and chop out in the ruck,” Williams said.

“I think in that aspect, my ruck game definitely improved a lot, I was playing against some big bodies, some experienced ruckmen and I was happy that I could develop that area of my game and be versatile for the team.

“I felt like throughout each game I just gained confidence, and I think the team did as well, and towards the back end of the year were able to get a little bit of momentum which I think will help us going into this season.”

Joining the Eagles from East Fremantle in 2021, Williams credits teammates in both the forward and back line for helping develop his game since his arrival.

“Oscar Allen is a big one and it’s great to see him as a club skipper now,” Williams said.

“When I got to the club back in 2021, he was still a really big voice back then and just someone who had been in the team for a few years and was starting to make a name for himself.

“He was an easy one to just follow what he was doing, and he was really good with the young guys.

“Some of the other leaders at the club, Jeremy McGovern, Tom Barrass, I’ve been playing against them at training for a couple of years and they’re unreal defenders, some of the best in the comp.

“It’s great to learn from them and get a different perspective to my game from their eyes as well as defenders, and they’re always really helpful.”

Working his way through the pre-season, Williams outlines some personal goals that he’s been focusing on.

“I just want to keep developing my game in a forward direction, and continue on from last year,” Williams said.

“I’ve got some elements I’m working on individually but I just want to be able to slot into the team if I can and work on all aspects of my game, including ruck if needed.

“And just working on my forward craft, and trying to get my fitness up, obviously coming off those couple of months off early last year, I probably wasn’t playing at full fitness towards the end of the year.

“Now that I’ve got a full pre-season under my belt, I’m hoping to really launch into the start of the season.”