Dylan Roberton is confident of his availability for St Kilda's opening match next season, after missing close to two full AFL season's due to a heart condition.
The Saints star hasn't featured since round four of the 2018 season against Geelong, when he collapsed on the field and was taken to hospital.
After the 28-year-old was diagnosed with an irregular heartbeat he has had a defibrillator installed on his chest and takes medication as a means for regulating his heartbeat.
Speaking to Triple M, Roberton said he expects to be fit for the Saints opening round clash against Collingwood.
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"I had my first session back with the group the other day but obviously been running the whole off-season so feeling really good," Roberton told Triple M.
“[I’ve] been managing what’s gonna happen over the preseason and hope to get back for round one.
"That includes regular check-ups with my cardiologists and doing regular stress tests to make sure they're on top of anything that might be creeping in."
Coming off the back of a career-best year in 2017, where Robertson ran second in the Saints' best-and-fairest, the defender suffered another setback in a pre-season game against the Bulldogs this year.
After being ruled out for the entirety of the 2019 season, he said he's taken extensive measures to monitor the condition over the past 12 months, and all indications suggest he's on track for a strong return.
“That first episode was obviously a pretty serious one, but obviously I wasn’t on medication then so there was no sort of control,” Roberton said.
“Then I’ve been on medication to sort of balance your heart if it does try to go off and do anything silly, it sort of just regulates your heart and your blood pressure and that sort of thing, so I’m confident that’s gonna keep me healthy.
“I headed overseas and just got some opinions from overseas and everyone’s really confident that if I’m diligent with my medication and like I said those regular checkups with the cardiologist that everything’s gonna be fine.”
