The light at the end of the tunnel is glimmering for Seb Tape, with the Gold Coast defender closing in on a much-awaited return to football. 

Tape has endured a slower start to the season than the rest of his teammates, with club medical staff managing his conditioning load after he reported hamstring soreness mid-way through pre-season training. 

While only considered a minor bump in the road, the frustrating niggle was ill-timed for the 21-year-old defender, with Tape showing signs he was ready to take the next step up as a top-tier backman in the AFL.

He was voted by the playing list as the best performed player at the 2013 2XU High Performance Camp in Arizona, and was on the verge of completing his first full pre-season in his four years on the Gold Coast before he suffered his post-Christmas injury setback.

But with that behind him now, rehabilitation coach Paul Haines is optimistic Tape is ready to reclaim his place as a first-choice senior player. 

“Sebby has increased his training load quite a bit and is now completing more speed work, football conditioning and repeat efforts, which is pretty specific for his position,” Haines said.

“He has been coping very well with his hamstring through all the conditioning.

“Hopefully we will have him back in the next couple of weeks.”

Similar to medium-size utility, Luke Russell, the Gold Coast fitness mentor says Tape’s extended period on the sidelines has given the hard-nosed defender an opportunity to build more strength through his upper-body.

“He has completed a lot of upper-body work and also a lot of craft work over the last couple of months,” he said.

“He has been able to put on a bit of size and also build his core as well, which will hopefully help him come back stronger than before his injury.”

Last year Haines was charged with the responsibility of maintaining the elite fitness levels of Campbell Brown (six-week suspension) and Jesse Lonergan (broken wrist), and did so with flying colours, with both Gold Coast players slotting back into the senior team once available for selection. 

At the time he credited the club’s well-rounded strength and conditioning program, and was hopeful Tape would be no different. 

“We’d like to think so,” he said.

“Obviously when you are out of the game for a little while the thing that takes a bit longer is the game sense, when you have a lot of traffic around you.

“Sebby has been working on that the last couple of weeks with the main group, so hopefully he slides back into the side without any hassles.”