Veteran Richmond star Brett Deledio is confident his body will hold up to the rigours of AFL football next season and beyond, following a frustrating injury run in 2016.

Deledio missed the opening five games of the season with a quad injury and has been sidelined since the Tigers’ Round 17 win against Essendon because of a calf complaint. 

He also had calf problems during the pre-season, which hampered his preparation going into the 2016 season.

The 29-year-old, however, believes he can regain continuity with his football in 2017.

“I feel only 22-23 upstairs, but unfortunately the calves have just let me down a little bit over this last year, especially.  But I feel like I’m on top of the program that Pete Burge, our fitness guy, and our physios, have put in place and (I’m) ready to hit the ground running,” Deledio said on SEN.

“I’m running pretty strongly now and, if I hadn’t have missed so many weeks, I probably would have been a little chance to play these last two (games of the season). 

“But unfortunately you’ve got to get so much training into your body to make sure that not just the calf gets through, but the rest of your body as well.”