Resurgent Deledio overcomes AFL worries

AFL veteran Brett Deledio is getting back to his best but less than two months ago he was worried if he'd ever recapture the form of his Richmond days.

The former Tigers star had a miserable, injury-marred first season with Greater Western Sydney in 2017, playing in only their last seven games of the season.

He looked a shadow of the player who starred while amassing 243 games in 12 seasons for Richmond.

But the 31-year-old tallied 28 and 29 touches in his past two games and was a standout in last week's draw with St Kilda.

It was a far cry from the Giants final pre-season game in early March, when he touched the ball seven times and looked rusty.

Asked if he had ever worried about regaining the form of his glory days, Deledio said" "Yeah, 100 per cent. I worried about that a lot.

"Especially post the (2017) finals series and as recently as the last practice game that I played, I only played half the game and was on and off the ground.

"Patience and some wise words from (Giants general manager of football) Wayne (Campbell) and my dad and my wife was very supportive: 'Just hang in there and it will turn for you'.

"It was a lot to do with just training hard and making sure that I was putting the hours out here on the track.

"I knew that things would slowly start to turn.

"I'm just loving being out there enjoying footy again, which is a far cry from where I was this time last year."

Having played just 12 AFL games for GWS, Deledio said he was still learning the nuances of all of his teammates.

"They say, 'Back yourself in, get going' and it's weird hearing that from guys who are a hell of a lot younger than you," he said.

GWS have three wins and a draw from five games going into Saturday's home clash with Brisbane.

"I don't think we're running on all cylinders at the moment. I still think we're finding our feet a little bit and working on different aspects of our game," Deledio said.

He backed fellow veteran Ryan Griffen to return to his best after he also missed much of last season.