Tall Tiger defender David Astbury is getting right back to the AFL career-best form he displayed during the early rounds of the 2014 season before suffering a serious knee injury.

Astbury was running second in the Jack Dyer Medal after eight games that season, until dislocating a kneecap (for the second time in his league career) during the Round 9 clash with Melbourne.

He missed the rest of the year, and subsequently managed only four games in 2015 because of further injury problems.

This season, however, Astbury has played 11 games and, in recent weeks, he’s gone from solid contributor to key performer across Richmond’s backline.

In Round 15 against Port Adelaide at Adelaide Oval, Astbury recorded a career-high 23 disposals.

Then, in last Saturday night’s Round 16 encounter with the Western Bulldogs at Etihad Stadium, he took a career-high 12 marks and had 21 disposals, including a team-high seven intercept possessions.

“I’ve been building a little bit,” Astbury said on 3AW.

“I went away from my strengths, probably mid-year.  I was probably playing too conservatively . . . playing to stop my man rather than beating him. 

“So ‘Truck’ (Ben) Rutten (Richmond’s backline coach) and I have done a lot of work to really rectify that . . .

“The last couple of weeks I think I’m improving.  But as with the rest of the team, I think I’ve got a lot left in me.”