Alex Jones has made the startling revelation that he was close to quitting football over the summer.
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On the comeback trail from a knee reconstruction he contemplated retirement as commitments to his roofing business grew.
But some persuasive Tiger teammates soon got in his ear.
Fortunately for the defending premier, Jones was back at the Sportsground doing the hard yards over the pre-season.
"At the start of the season it did cross my mind that I wasn't going to play football again," Jones said.
"Mainly because of work commitments.
"But a few of the boys started getting into my ear so I started training and getting back into the swing of things.
"Deep down I always wanted to play but work is obviously a priority."
Jones spent the opening month regaining his touch in the reserves.
He returned to the senior line-up against Corowa-Rutherglen in round five.
It hasn't taken the speedster long to regain the sort of form which saw him finish top-10 in the Tigers' best and fairest two years ago.
"The knee is feeling fine and I've been fairly happy with my form," he said.
"Surprisingly it's more the muscles around the knee that pull up sore rather than the knee itself.
"Ideally I would like to drop another couple of kilograms and feel I can improve as I gain a bit more match fitness."
Jones has slotted into the midfield with his pace adding another dimension alongside some of the other bigger bodied Tiger onballers.
"I've been playing predominantly in the midfield and have enjoyed the challenge," he said.
"The reconstruction hasn't seemed to affected my pace.
"We have a good mix of midfielders with some stronger types dishing the ball out to our running players."
Jones said he is also thriving under the new coaching arrangement of co-coaches Tom McGrath and Luke Daly who were recently re-appointed for next season.
"To their credit they have accepted the challenge and performed really well," he said.
"They have got the respect of the group and I haven't heard a bad word from anyone about the way they go about it.
"So we are back to the way we used to be and it's really player-driven how we go about things and there is a real buzz around the club."
Albury host Wodonga today with the second-placed Tigers expected to score a comfortable win.
