NARRANDERA footballer Zac Williams has declared himself fit and available for the resumption of the AFL season next week.
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Williams has not played an AFL game since last year's grand final defeat but has returned to full training in time for Greater Western Sydney's round two clash with North Melbourne on Sunday week.
Williams missed the Giants' round one win over Geelong with an achilles injury and is desperate not be kept on the sidelines again.
"I tried to convince Leon (Cameron) just to play me against Geelong round one but he wasn't having a bar of it," Williams told Giants TV.
"He just said look, we don't know what's going on with all this coronavirus stuff so we're not going to risk you so I was here training with a few of the boys.
"It's been a long wait so I'm itching to get out there and being able to play some footy. It was a long time ago now, how many months has it been now since the grand final, whatever it is, but I'm itching to get back out there and hurry up so I can play."
The Giants resumed contact training last week, a significant step two months after the AFL season was shutdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Williams has used the past week of training to prove to the Giants' coaching staff that he is ready to return.
"I'm definitely putting my hand up for round two and I'm making sure Leon knows that," Williams said.
"It was quite tough over the lockdown break to just train in pairs. I was stuck with big Jeremy Finlayson, so he's really pushed my limits over the last eight weeks, I'm getting sick of him, but we trained pretty hard over the break so everyone's come back in pretty good nic.
"It will be interesting to see the team they roll out against North Melbourne but I'm definitely making sure I put my hand up for that.
"The body feels good, I'm up and about at the moment. I pulled up a bit sore from the first contact session on Wednesday, but I just want to hurry up and get out there and play some footy."
Williams said returning to training a AFL level with the COVID-19 restrictions in place has been 'weird' but believes it will all be worth it if the Giants are able to resume their season on June 14.
"It's been quite weird. When we're doing gym and stuff and we're still inside the club, we're still in our groups of eight because we're not allowed to have a certain amount of players in the gym or in the meeting room so it's still not perfect, or where we want it to be," he said.
"But we fully had contact (last) Wednesday and it was good fun, the body pulled up a bit sore because it was the first contact session but it's really good to get back into it and hopefully all goes well and (the AFL is) back playing on June 11."
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