Emerging Richmond key defender David Astbury is fit and firing in the pre-season as he prepares to build on the impressive gains he made during the first half of last season before dislocating a kneecap for the second time in his league career.

Astbury was running second in Richmond’s Best and Fairest until suffering the season-ending kneecap dislocation in the Round 9 clash with Melbourne at the MCG.

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But, as Tiger teammate Steven Morris pointed out on ‘Sportsday’, Astbury has made a full recovery and is set to take his game to another level in season 2015.

“Anyone who watched our season for the first half, while we were struggling as a team, would have seen how well Dave played,” Morris said. 

“He was outstanding for us . . . he was our shining light in defence. 

“For a big guy, his fitness is outstanding.  He’s running the best times that he’s ever run, so that’s a great indication that his knee’s come back, and he’s back at the top of his game. 

“Fingers crossed he can stay sound because he certainly is a big boy that can do extremely good things on the footy field.”