FOR WILL Thursfield, it's all blue skies from now on.

Thursfield endured a harrowing 2009, a year that saw him dropped early in the season and miss eight weeks before his season ended prematurely with a shoulder injury in the second-last home-and-away contest.

Thursfield's shoulder was dislocated in a clash with Hawthorn youngster Liam Shiels early in the round 21 match, and despite wearing a sling at the club's best-and-fairest awards night, the tall defender was upbeat about 2010.

"To be honest, I'm really good – I 'm just wearing this to stop all the people bumping into me and for a bit of sympathy," he told richmondfc.com.au with a laugh.

"It's coming along perfectly.

"It's two-and-a-half weeks since the operation. They (club doctors) reckon I could probably play in about a couple of weeks, so I'm going to be absolutely fine for the start of pre-season."

The 23-year-old is also looking forward to a new start for the Tigers, who began the season with most people tipping them to play finals for just the third time in over a quarter of a century, but ended with a horror last month and a 15th-place finish.

One message new coach Damien Hardwick had been hammering home is that the new Tigers will have the footballs out early and rehearsing next year's game plan on a regular basis.

Thursfield agreed that the Tigers had to work like never before.

"There's a few positives out of the season, but I'm just looking forward to starting the new way of things.

"It was a shocking year. In the past we've had enough of tactics and that sort of thing, and we've always been a bit confused as to how we play.

"I've had a few chats to Damien – nothing too deep - and he seems nice, but I'm sure we'll have a really tough preseason.

"The more footy work and hard work, the better. Getting the game style down pat - it's what we need."

Gaining weight has always been a battle for the 191cm Thursfield, and at 85kg, he knows he has to bulk up to be able to beat the power forwards in a strength war on a weekly basis.

But today's frenetic footy makes that a difficult goal.

"I'd like to do less running and get bigger – just have a really good year. I've had enough with injuries and stuffing around," he said.

"It's really hard to get bigger, though – you have to do heaps of running because they want you fit so you can play up the ground, and then I end up playing deep.

"I'm hoping we'll just decide I'll play deep."