Carlton speedster Zac Williams will officially make his AFL return in his team's season opener against the Brisbane Lions at the Gabba on Friday night.
The versatile Wiradjuri midfielder/running defender has not played an AFL game since Round 23 of the 2022 season after rupturing his anterior cruciate ligament during a training camp last pre-season.
The 29-year-old has had a wretched run with injury over the past few years since joining the Blues on a lucrative contract from Greater Western Sydney at the end of the 2020 season.
He suffered with a string of calf and hamstring injuries in his first season at the Blues, before another serious calf injury caused him to miss 14 matches of his 2022 campaign.
Blues coach Michael Voss confirmed that Williams would make his return last night on Fox Footy and said it was a 'brilliant' story.
"We let him know yesterday in front of the team that he'd be playing and it was pretty emotional," Voss said.
"He has a had a lot of personal things going on in his life that he's had to work through and then on top of that footy has been taken away from him over the last little while.
"So he has had some injury troubles but despite all that he has been able to work his way through it and he has got himself in some fantastic condition, probably the best of his career."
Williams showed impressive signs in Carlton's VFL practice match against the Casey Demons and got through the game unscathed.
He told Carlton's media team after the match that it was 'good to be out there'.
"First game in 18 months .. I only played 65 minutes but it was good to be out there – I loved it," Williams said.
Williams made his debut for the Giants in the 2013 season and played 113 games for the club across eight seasons.
He was a key part of GWS' run to the grand final in 2019 and was excellent in the club's preliminary final win against Collingwood that season.
In other news, Jesse Motlop sustained a jarred toe during the practice match against Melbourne and is expected to miss one to two weeks.
