Tim Ruffles has made the trek from Perth to play for Werribee in the VFL. 75738 Picture: SUPPLIED
By Liam Twomey
TIM Ruffles has clocked up some serious miles in his young football career.
He started playing TAC Cup for the North Ballarat Rebels before being selected by the Fremantle Football Club with pick 68 in the AFL national draft.
The Docker looked right at home on the big stage, kicking two goals in the local derby against West Coast in just his third game.
However, back-to-back knee reconstructions within a year took their toll and Ruffles found himself on the road again, this time to Werribee in the VFL.
The 21-year-old is hoping to put his injury troubles behind him as he aims to be part of a successful Tigers outfit this year.
“I was a bit unlucky there (Fremantle) having the two knee reconstructions 12 months apart from each other but at the moment I’m back into training and it’s feeling really good,” Ruffles said.
“I think it will just be a monitoring process and we see how it goes.
“I talked to Scott West through my management and they sold it to me so I came down and had a look. I know Will Sullivan from Perth and I knew a few of the other guys so that made it pretty easy for me to just come down and fit in.”
Ruffles said he was hoping to string a consistent season together after only playing three matches last year because of injury. If he can get his body right, the dream of returning to the AFL is not out of the question.
“You never know, it’s one of those things. It will be good to get out there and get on the track and put 18-20 games together and you never know what’s going to happen,” he said.
For now, Ruffles will continue pre-season training with the Tigers as the group begins work on the game plan they hope will bring the ultimate success in 2012.
“That will all come into play in the next couple of weeks when we start going through structures and stuff like that. Once we sit down and have a chat that will all fall into place,” he said.
“I’d be looking to play half forward and on the wing and get a bit of confidence back. Hopefully I can provide a bit of run and get into space.”
