After severely injuring his neck during training about three weeks ago, John ‘Jack’ Anthony has made a remarkable recovery and is on the verge of returning to full training. He told CTV on Wednesday he hopes to be back to full fitness by round one.Anthony suffered a blood clot around the spinal cord, called a haematoma.He admits that when he was lying on the ground after Sean Rusling had slung him into Martin Clarke’s shoulder, he immediately thought of former teammate Blake Caracella’s career-ending neck injury sustained last year, and it was, understandably, a frightening experience.“When it happened, and I was lying on the ground, and the first thing I thought about was Blake Caracella, and that did scare the hell out of me,” Anthony said at the Lexus Centre.But now, three weeks on, the 19-year-old has permanently removed his neck brace, has full range of movement in his neck, and his positive attitude has given everyone around the club a huge lift.“For me, I hope I can be back for round one and back to full fitness, and I’m definitely looking forward to getting back out on the track in the next few weeks.”The emerging defender, who enjoyed a fine season with Williamstown in 2006 and prior to his injury had been talked about as a player likely to make his senior debut sooner rather than later in 2007, found it tough dealing with the uncertainty of his injury early on, but considerable support has helped him through.“Coming back into the club, it helped a lot with the boys, all their support, my family’s support, friends I hadn’t seen in a while, a lot of support, it was just great, that really got me through the hard times.“The first week or two was very tough, I really couldn’t walk, I couldn’t move because it was so painful.“It was very close to being a bit more serious, but lucky for me I’m not in a wheelchair or anything and I can still play football and be around the club, and it’s great to be out of the neck brace now and I just feel a million bucks.”To watch the full Jack Anthony interview on CTV - FREE – please click on the relevant related link within this article.