“I first started feeling pain in my foot at quarter time during the clash against Sydney,” he recalls.

“From there the pain just gradually built up over the next few weeks”.

By Round Five’s win over arch-rival Adelaide, Polec had donned the green substitute’s vest in a bid to manage the injury. But by game’s end, he realised something was very wrong.

I could not put my foot down anymore and that’s when I realised it had snapped

“I came into the dressing room and I could not put my foot down anymore and that’s when I realised it had snapped,” he tells InDaily of the navicular stress fracture that derailed his 2015 season – and threatened to end his career.

The pacy wingman was contemplating his footballing mortality while his team’s season was sinking so fast the Titanic herself would have been impressed.

A promising 3-2 win-loss position dissolved to a catastrophic 5-8 with losses to the lowly likes of Brisbane and the Blues.

And all the while, Polec watched on helplessly as a club widely penned as potential Premiers pre-season drifted deeper into the mire.

“It was so frustrating for me during that period,” he admits.

“You never like to see your team losing and you just wish that you could be out there helping them.

“I just had to stay positive and at least do all the right things to get my foot right again”.

And Polec’s desire to return to the field was keenly reciprocated: Port Adelaide missed him dearly.

Recruited by the Lions with the No.5 draft pick in 2010 before he joined the Brisbane exodus for a Port Adelaide homecoming at the end of 2013, Polec was central to the Power’s lauded free-flowing, attacking game-style.

He was the provider, the line-breaker, the X-factor, offering run and carry from the centre with an elite kick to deliver the ball forward.

Indeed, in 2014, Polec boasted a disposal efficiency of 71.5 per cent – the highest of any current Port Adelaide midfielder for that year.

And his loss in 2015 – along with the prolonged absence of Richmond recruit Matt White – was reflected in the difficulty the Power midfield had moving the ball. At key moments, they lacked that dash down the wing, that superior kick.

“I’ll always back myself to hit difficult targets under pressure,” Polec says.

“If there is a player in the middle of the ground and it’s heavily congested… I’ll back myself”.

And he’s backing his body to hold up after rest – rather than surgery – appears to have healed the troublesome navicular – the same bone that has kept onetime Melbourne captain Jack Trengove sidelined for two years.

“Yeah, it’s holding up really well and I haven’t had any issues with it of late”, Polec says.

“It’s obviously still being monitored but I am all good to go for Round One, which is exciting”.

“We want to play exciting, tough Port Adelaide football.” Photo: Michael Errey, InDaily.

Port kick off their 2016 campaign against St Kilda on Sunday at Adelaide Oval. And while the Power faithful may be talking up their season prospects, Polec won’t be taking anything for granted – not even the little things.

“Hearing [INXS anthem] ‘Never Tear Us Apart’ before each game is such an amazing feeling – it just gives you more excitement and it’s such a good atmosphere… everyone at the club loves it. It’s a great feeling walking out and hearing that song with everyone getting behind it,” he enthuses.

“Sometimes you just have to sit back and take it in… I know some of the boys sing along to it as well”.

And once the siren sounds, Polec says he just wants “to have a consistent year and play some hard football”.

“Obviously I had a rough year last year and I just want to get out there and find form… I want to give what I can to the team and provide some run and carry,” he says, before reciting what is now established as the Power’s mantra: “We want to play exciting, tough Port Adelaide football where will never give in or give up.”

“If we do that,” he insists, “the results will take care of themselves.”