JOEL Smith says he can’t wait to play his first match of any sorts since he injured his shoulder during his AFL debut against St Kilda at Etihad Stadium in round one.

Smith missed 13 weeks with the injury, but is set to resume this Saturday for Casey Demons against Port Melbourne at North Port Oval. The son of former Melbourne high-flyer Shaun said he was ready to go.

“I’m feeling pretty good, I’m pretty relaxed and I’m just keen to get back out there, and hopefully it won’t be too long until I’m back in the ones because the Dees are playing some pretty good footy right now,” he told melbournefc.com.au.

“I’ll just play it week by week and we’ll see how go this week.”

Smith said it had been a frustrating period being on the sidelines.

“I was playing some pretty good footy early in the pre-season and in round one. It was pretty frustrating doing my shoulder, but it’s been pretty positive in rehab,” he said.

“I’ve had good support from all of the coaches and rehab coaches – Rigga (Alex Sakadjian) and Crossy (Daniel Cross) have been doing extras with me. The people in rehab like Gawny (Max Gawn), Pat Mckenna and Gussy (Angus Brayshaw) have been positive along the way, so I’m just keen to get out there this weekend and hopefully play the year out.

“I’ve learned to be positive by coming in every day with a goal, and to tick off what I need to do. I’ve probably come back a bit quicker than expected, because I’ve done everything right week by week, and set some really small goals each week, which has helped me come back a bit fitter and a bit stronger.”

Although he started the season as a defender, Smith said his versatility could come to the fore in the latter part of the season.

“This week I may just play down back to start off, but I’ve been doing a bit of work with Chappy (Troy Chaplin) and Benny (Ben Mathews) with a forward and wing role, so we might experiment the next couple of weeks up forward,” he said.

“I’m happy to take that on and see how I go because it could be interesting – it could go really well. I’m just happy, wherever the coaches play me I’ll take the role on board and do it to the best of my ability.”

Regardless of what position he plays, Smith, 21, said his aim for the rest of the year was to bounce back into the AFL side as soon as possible.

“I would love to be back in the ones this week, but however long it takes to get back into the ones – or even if I have to play VFL for the whole year – I’ll just see how I go week by week,” he said.

“Both the VFL and AFL sides are playing some really good footy right now, so I can’t wait to get back out there, get a win would be great this week. I’ll just try and get back in the ones as soon as I can.”