The key position defender tore his anterior cruciate ligament in round one last year and then injured the same knee in his comeback in the round two clash in reserve grade against Lavington last month.

He visited highly-respected Melbourne surgeon Hayden Morris shortly after who gave him a six-week period for the injury to show signs of improvement or undergo more season-ending surgery.

“He said there was a 10 per cent chance of it reattaching,” Hedin said.

“He said he’s seen it before, but not very often.

“It’s not like the whole graft has gone and grabbed again, but it has a little bit or enough of it that he was happy with.

“I had the opportunity to go into surgery the following week or give it that chance to heal.

“I took a little bit of a risk, not that it’s a massive risk, (so I) went for it and, hopefully, it comes off, at this stage it has.”

Hedin is hoping his luck is now turning.

“Yeah, hopefully, I’ll do strength training for my quads, hamstrings and calves and get back into running and hopefully start training in about two weeks time,” he said.

“I’m hoping to be playing mid-July, about round 13 hopefully if everything goes well.”

Wangaratta will play Yarrawonga on July 14 and if Hedin can achieve his goal of returning in reserves that day, he’ll have six games to try and reclaim a seniors’ berth before finals.

Despite missing last year, the Pies still kept Hedin as vice-captain, highlighting his standing in the club.

And the 22-year-old admits it was bittersweet watching the club charge to the most unexpected premiership in its history.

“It was exciting being there, but it was obviously disappointing to miss out,” he said.

“I love footy and I love playing at ‘Wang’, so I couldn’t have been happier for the guys.”