Piddington was not only proud of himself for getting back so quickly, but also of his teammates, who have overcome a busy schedule in his absence to rise to top spot in the NPL. Back-to-back premierships will be theirs if they finish with victories against Charlestown and second-placed Maitland.

"There were plenty who said I wouldn't be back and I shouldn't be back, and I'm pretty glad to have that impact," Piddington said of shocking people with his return on Sunday.

"Not just on people watching, but hopefully I can contribute that on the field and help this team win a grand final.

"I'm so proud of them. Some of the guys have really stood up over the last few weeks in the absence of myself and others. Watching from the sidelines, you see some of the little things they are starting to do, and it's all starting to blend into a really good team.

"Now being at the top of the table, everyone can see that's where it's at, you can feel it a little bit. There's a little bit of belief there now that [a premiership win] can happen, and it's a simple equation now."

The veteran centre-back suffered multiple fractures of his eye socket, as well as a nasty gash to his eyelid and a knee injury, when he fell head first into a netting pole at Lake Macquarie Regional Football Facility in the 2-1 win over Broadmeadow on July 13.

He had surgery, including the insertion of four plates, to reconstruct his eye socket, but he was determined to return to the field this season.

After advice from his doctor, Piddington initially targetted a six-week recovery, but he was given the all clear to come back early after low-resolution CT scans showed the eye socket was healing well.

After a week of full training, he asked coaches Shane Pryce and Bob Naumov if he could get some minutes against Adamstown, who they went on to rout 9-0. He came on for the last half an hour at Edden Oval and gained confidence he could play a role in the big games to come.

"There was one corner where I got up and involved in it," he said.

"Later in the game there was a big clearance from the keeper and there was no one around me and it was clearly going out, but I thought, I'm just going to head this one out and see what happens.

"I got in behind it and did my thing and there wasn't any pain, so I think that was one I needed to get under my belt to say I'm good to go here."

"I jumped in about two weeks ago with training and progressively loaded myself back up. Last week was full training. I'll have another full week this week and put my hand up to be selected.

"The guys on the park have been doing really well and they played through that period of games every three and four days, so I'm just grateful to be back in and around it with them again and hopefully together we can go and win some trophies."

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