RUCKMAN Jake Spencer says he’s aiming to be ready for Melbourne’s NAB Challenge campaign, which starts on Thursday, March 5 against Fremantle at Fremantle Oval, after battling some niggling injuries in the pre-season.

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Spencer, who has played 29 matches since making his AFL in 2009, started the 2014 season promisingly, playing the opening five rounds, before an ankle sidelined him for the rest of the year.

But he said his ankle was “just about” 100 per cent and now he is overcoming a niggling back complaint.

“I had a few back issues leading up to Christmas, which kept me pretty limited in what I could do,” he told melbournefc.com.au on the third day of Melbourne’s pre-season camp at Maroochydore.

“Hopefully I’ll be in full training by the end of the camp.

“We haven’t had four or five ruckmen up and running for a while, but I’m looking forward to it and hopefully I’ll get my body right in the next couple of weeks and join the other boys. Hopefully, I can put my hand up for a game in the NAB Challenge.”

Spencer said it was difficult last season, when he was effectively the only ruckman ready to play in round one last year, given injuries to Mark Jamar and Max Gawn last pre-season.

“It can hinder your development a little bit, when your ruck teammates are out injured, so it’s great to have ‘Russian’ (Jamar) out there now, because he is one of the best ruckmen in the competition,” he said.

Despite the notion that every player is flying at this stage of the season, Spencer said he was realistic about where he was at. But he said he was confident that he could bounce back this year.

“I’m probably not as confident about this year, as much as I was last season, [because of some injury setbacks], and with Russian and Gawny performing well in the pre-season,” he said.

“I probably see myself at the bottom of the pecking order at the moment, so that’s why I’m keen to get back out there in full training.

“Who knows? Anything can happen. This time last year I was flying and then my ankle gave away early in the season. You never know what situations can come up, so all I can do is train hard and hopefully I’ll get an opportunity in the NAB Challenge and show Roosy what I can do.”

Reflecting on the first couple of days of the camp, Spencer said it been a strong start by the players.

“It’s been good. It’s been enjoyable. It’s been pretty solid for the guys, but I’m on a modified program, so I’ve been taken out of a few things,” he said.

“But it’s been great for the boys to get together.”

Spencer, who hails from Townsville, said he struggled with the humidity when he returned to North Queensland for Christmas, but he said the weather was not as difficult to acclimatise to on the Sunshine Coast.

“I think you need a couple of days to adjust, but it’s not as hot as Darwin a few years ago,” he said.

Despite being the one of two Queenslanders in Melbourne’s squad – Rohan Bail being the other – many of his teammates class him as a local.

“Some of the boys don’t know the area that well,” he said with a laugh.

“I’ve had a couple of the guys say ‘how far down the road are you?’ I just said ‘1400km north’. It’s not really close.”