The attacking midfielder/striker is fit and raring to go after a frustrating second season which saw him further hampered by niggling knocks and a struggle to reach full fitness.

“It was a very, very frustrating time after the injury," said the Mariner. "I wasn’t at my best last year."

Hutchinson burst on to the A-League scene with six goals in eight games during the first season but the campaign was ultimately to end in tears for the player.

As the Mariners roared towards an eventual Grand Final defeat at the hands of the same opponents, Hutchinson fell in a league match against Sydney FC and suffered a serious knee injury.

Following reconstruction surgery and a long and painful rehabilitation, Hutchinson did make it back for part of season two but admits it wasn’t the same.

He never gave up though - and now feels fighting fit.

"I think my luck could best be summed up when I rolled my ankle in training, had a spell out, came back and then immediately rolled my other ankle," he said.

"It was unbelievable. You were playing catch-up and I don’t think I ever really got to where I wanted to be.

"There were times where I felt like telling the boss to pull me out and put someone else in but I kept going.”

However, one event prior to the second season really convinced Hutchinson that all the pain, frustration and tears was worth it.

He said: “When the boys beat Adelaide in the preliminary final, I spoke to them all in the dressing room afterwards and it just convinced me that it was all worth it and I wanted to get back to it.”

Get back he did, albeit not to a level that he was happy with, but that’s all history.

Nor is he worried about facing the team who provided the opposition when his injury nightmare began – albeit that he wasn’t injured by any of the Sydney players.

He said: “That’s gone now and I’m just looking forwards now.

"The only ‘positive’ thing for me out of all that was that I’d signed my contract on the Tuesday before getting injured on the Saturday. That was obviously good timing.

“But I’m feeling good now. I don’t want anyone to say ‘he wasn’t the same after that injury’. I owe a lot of people a good season, as well as myself of course.

“Sydney are a good team but we want to beat them and push on. It would be great to go into the new season with some silverware.”