COLLINGULLIE-Glenfield Park lynchpin Jayden Klemke says the motivation to play football again is too strong to hang up the boots after two surgeons suggested he give up the game.
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Klemke will give himself every chance to play for the Demons this season, after barely playing for four years, after doctors told him he was lucky to return to the field at all after seriously damaging his knee on debut for West Adelaide in 2019.
He returned to Collingullie-Glenfield Park this year, and was named in their best eight times in nine games before his meniscus gave way midway through the season.
Klemke at one point did consider taking time away from the game or retiring, but will give himself every chance to play next year.
"I'll go again and just see how it goes, but it will probably be my last year," he said.
"At one stage I was going to have a year or two off or give it away, but there's too much drive in me, and being around the boys I wanted to have one more crack.
"Two reports from surgeons didn't give me much choice other than to give it away, but I'm keen to have one more crack.
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"I went to a surgeon in Canberra and he said I did well just to come back from my knee in Adelaide. I did more than my ACL, I snapped every ligament in my knee.
"Some parts of my knee they can't fix, there's a whole heap of cartilages they can't fix. I've got to live with a bit of pain or have a knee replacement, it's up to me how quick I have one.
"If I keep playing footy every year, I'd be guaranteed to have one (replacement) in five or ten years.
"If it's too sore I just won't play, I'll be smarter. It's all I can do."
Klemke is one of the most decorated players in Demons history. He has won four best and fairests played in their last grand final win in 2018 against Griffith and has won two Jim Quinn medals
"Since 2018 I've only played about 18 to 20 games, it's driving me to get a few more," he said.
"There's a hole in the knee that's causing a lot of bone on bone, but once it warmed up in games I was fine.
"I was wondering why I was getting sore when I was running, it's hard to get motivated when my knee was hurting. It all started to make a bit of sense when I started seeing the surgeons.
"I won't be doing much over pre-season, just a lot of swimming and bike riding to get through."
The Demons began this year slowly, but managed to finish fifth after a strong back half of the season.
They have added some quality with Steve Jolliffe returning after a stint with Wodonga Raiders, Matt Klemke and Brad McMillan are also back while promising young forward Sam Stening has made the leap from Osborne.
"I think we were only three or four blokes away from it this year, to be honest," Klemke said.
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