For most supporters, Saturday’s VFL game between Collingwood and Geelong is simply an entrée to the main course later on at the MCG.

But for Tim Broomhead, the match is the light at the end of a long, dark tunnel.

The teenager, who was recruited to Collingwood with the 20th selection in last November’s National Draft, has spent much of the year laid low with glandular fever but will finally play his first game in the black and white jumper against the Cats.

“It’s pretty exciting. I’m just happy to finally be playing because it’s nine months since I played a game,” Broomhead told collingwoodfc.com.au.

“I did all of the pre-season and was going pretty well until I got sick which ruined things for me a bit, but it’s good to get out and play some footy this weekend. I’m excited, not nervous yet.”

Broomhead arrived at the Westpac Centre on 26 November after being drafted out of the Port Adelaide Magpies only a few days prior.

He joined his senior teammates on the flight to Utah a month later and returned to Melbourne for full training in the new year.

But on the eve of the NAB Cup, he was sitting on the couch at home when he realised that something was amiss.

“It came out of nowhere. I was sitting at home one night and had a bit of a cough and a sore tooth. I thought it was just molars or something that I’d get checked out if it didn’t go away, but the next morning I felt a bit light headed and fairly tired and lethargic.

“I saw the doctor at the club who sent me down to get a test where I found out I had glandular fever.

“I wasn’t too sure exactly what it was. I knew a few people who had had so I talked to them about it.

“Then that night I was spewing up and after that I was just sleeping 20 hours a day. I did that for two, maybe two and a half weeks and after that I was sleeping for 14 or 15 hours a day. It didn’t matter where I was, I just slept.

“After few weeks of sleeping I slowly started to eat more and then started fixing my diet so I worked on that and still couldn’t do anything physically.

“Right at the start I was just sleeping because I was sick and had the sweats. Once I stopped sleeping all day I lied down and watched TV, going from the chair to the bed, back to the chair and back to bed all day.

“Without a doubt it was the worst I’ve ever felt.

Once his condition began to stabilise, Broomhead worked with the club’s medical staff to slowly return to full fitness.

“I was in contact with the doctor pretty much every day and slowly with each day I got a bit more energy and then I suppose probably five or six weeks after that I came back here to the club and saw the doctor who said I needed couple weeks off after that just resting and making sure I was still sleeping.

“I wasn’t as sick at that point so I just rested up and when I came back I didn’t get into too much training. I was just walking for a week or two weeks and then slowly did a bit of jogging, kicking and touch to get my hands back to normal.

“A couple of weeks after that I started doing some weights and slowly got back into training. We gradually built it up and then in the last four or five weeks I did full training. It was pretty much all conditioning to get my fitness back. My fitness had just dropped off. Obviously doing nothing for two months means you just lose it.”

Fortunately he had several senior players to turn to for advice on how to not only deal with the illness but to restore his body back to its best.

“I was lucky though. ‘Pendles’ lost a bit of weight when he did it and ‘Goldy’ lost eight or nine kilos with it so I was lucky to only lose one or two since being sick. I was 72kgs when I got here and I’m now 79kgs so it’s handy to have that behind me now because it has been easier to put on weight since.

From there, he has made gradual process on the training track before completing a gruelling session last Friday that confirmed his body’s readiness for a VFL debut.

“I did conditioning for about five-to-six weeks then last week I did a two kilometres time trial around Olympic Park Oval out here and had to get in a reasonable time, and I went OK.

“I ran it with Chris Howley, our rehabilitation coordinator, and just had to keep up with him.

“The selection isn’t entirely based on that but it’s an indicator of where I’m at. I had a pretty big session with Mitch Hahn and ‘Fly’ (Craig McRae) after that so it (his selection) was based on that a bit.”

Given that he has spent so much time in bed or on the couch, you could forgive Collingwood fans for taking an out of sight, out of mind approach to the man who was the club’s third selection in last year’s draft.

For the uninitiated, Broomhead describes himself as a player that will spend time on the wing and also on the half forward flank, with the hope that he will eventually end up somewhere in the centre square.

It’s a long way from this time last year when he was living at home in North Haven with his parents and older sister.

“I was doing some brick laying with dad briefly last year and it’s probably what I’d be doing this year if I wasn’t playing footy.

“I did that in patches throughout last year because I finished year 12 in 2011 but was lucky with my age getting through a year earlier.”

He will be hoping that luck can return now that his glandular fever has cleared.

Fans that wish to watch Broomhead in action can visit Victoria Park at 1pm on Saturday before heading to the MCG at 7.40pm.