Having re-damaged the posterior cruciate ligament and tore the lateral ligament after hyperextending his knee in the opening Northern Blues fixture of the season against Coburg back in March, big Levi was laid up for the best part of 14 weeks.
But, the 22 year-old successfully completed his senior debut in Round 17, memorably contesting the first bounce with the Western Bulldogs’ Will Minson, and never really looked back.
“Going down with injury at the start of the year I never thought I’d get to this stage where I’d sign a two-year contract,” Levi said.
“I was always confident I could get back, but there were times when I was in there (in rehab) by myself or with two or three other blokes in there at eight o’clock on a Sunday morning and thinking ‘What’s going on here?’.”
Levi said the worst of it was the first six weeks when his knee was immobilized in a brace, “and I couldn’t even ride a bike”. But he did everything right, in working closely with the development coaches “who were on to me about keeping my head up” and the rehabilitation coaches who assisted his cause in resuming training then playing.
Levi regarded the two-year arrangement with Carlton “a step forward” in his career as he now focused on representing his club in as many senior contests as possible.
“The contract offers security, but it doesn’t really change anything,” Levi said. “I’ve still got to work hard to keep my spot in the 22 and I know there’s a lot of hard work ahead.”
Having recently returned from Tasmania and shortly heading for a post-season sojourn to Hawaii, Levi is yet to have met the Carlton Senior Coach-elect Michael Malthouse.
“But it will be very exciting for myself and the other players to be working with a coach of Mick’s caliber and seeing what he can bring to the group,” he added.
