He may hail from Gippsland, but Nick Graham’s always seen the wood for the trees.

When his name was called by Shane Rogers at selection 54 overall in last year’s National Draft, the 2012 Morrish Medallist understood the need to move digs to the big smoke (he currently lives in a bungalow in the backyard of his host family’s place in nearby Flemington) to pursue his League career.

“Making that move I think helps you mature a lot quicker than if you’re still sitting at home with your parents,” Graham said this week. “Making the move pretty much forces you to take care of yourself. It puts all the ownership on you.”

Handed the No.32 recently vacated by the former Carlton key position defender Bret Thornton, Graham made an early impression. He was prominent in a couple of intra-club hit-outs at Visy Park and made the cut for the team’s NAB Cup contest against Greater Western Sydney in Blacktown back in February.

But then fate intervened. As he said: “I pulled up reasonably sore after that game, the doctor thought it’d be good to get a scan and the scan revealed torn cartilage”.

In truth, Graham had been in some discomfort with the left knee since copping a knock on it in last year’s TAC Cup prelim against Sandringham – notwithstanding the cyst on his right knee which had swollen to golf ball-size over the past three years.

So with characteristic pragmatism he got both knees done.

“I had a scope on the left knee, then had a scope on my right knee to have the cyst removed,” Graham said. “The cyst wasn’t causing me any discomfort, but it was decided that it should also be remove to avoid any problems with discomfort in the future.”

Graham’s ten-week lay-off is a small price to pay for what the future holds, for he is firmly of the view that timing is everything - and he’s in the right place at the right time.

“There’s an amazing feeling amongst the playing group this year, and for me to come into a club and learn from the likes of Mick Malthouse as the new Coach and Marc Murphy as the new Captain means is really exciting,” Graham said.

For the better part of those past ten weeks, the qualified cabinet maker has used his time away from the game to pursue a Certificate III in a career-oriented program facilitated by the AFL in conjunction with SportsReady. He’s also compared notes with one Andrew McInnes, who is himself nearing the end of his recovery from reconstructive knee surgery, and both are within four weeks of completing their comebacks . . . touchwood.

“Everything’s going to plan at the moment. It’s been a long process but I’m beginning to see light at the end of the tunnel,” Graham said.

“I’ll be available to play after Round 11, I expect to come back the same week as Andy McInnes and I’m just so keen to get back out there.

“The obvious goal now is to just get back, get some match fitness up in the VFL and hopefully towards the end of the year play some good footy and put my hand up for senior selection.