West Coast Eagles young gun Oscar Allen says he is ready to attack season 2020 at full tilt following a productive training stint in isolation.
The 21-year-old told 6PR’s Sportsday WA program that he used the AFL recess to get himself back to 100 per cent fitness after experiencing some injury setbacks during the pre-season.
Allen, who missed West Coast’s round one win over Melbourne, could have missed several more games due to a hernia injury that eventually required surgery.
But when the season was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it gave the versatile fledgling a rare opportunity to play catch-up on his strength and conditioning program.
“I’m probably one of the fortunate players who benefitted from having six to seven weeks of consistent training without any setbacks,” Allen said.
“We’re back into it now and looking forward to getting the season up and going.”
Allen wasn’t the only player to take advantage of the season suspension.
He said it was obvious that star bookends Jeremy McGovern and Josh Kennedy had done a mountain of work during their stints away from Mineral Resources Park.
In fact, Allen believed the majority of West Coast’s list used their time in isolation to better themselves.
“Gov’s in amazing nick; probably the best nick I’ve seen him in since my time at the club,” Allen said.
“Josh Kennedy as well, he’s looking really good on the track. He’s slimmed down a little bit and moving beautifully in terms of his fitness.
“I think the whole list has come back in really good nick and that’s probably the biggest positive we’re taking out of this whole period.”
Now that he is fit and firing, Allen is hoping to squeeze into the Eagles’ star-studded 22 ahead of the team's season restart on June 13.
The West Perth product, who has played virtually every position on the ground since debuting for the club in 2018, said he was continuing to work on his versatility so that he was front of mind when West Coast’s match committee convened to pick the club's round two team.
“I’m just trying to get myself in the frame of mind and in the coaches’ mindsets to play anywhere, whether that’s forward, back or like towards the back end of last year, a bit of back-up ruck as well,” Allen said.