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Curtis Good has, by his own admission, had a “horrible couple of years”.

A hip injury during the summer of 2014 required surgery but the Australian expected to be back playing within a few short months.

Yet numerous complications, three surgeries, a trip to Colorado, two years and plenty of heartache later, the 23-year-old is still only gradually making his way towards something bordering upon full fitness.

“Definitely I’m starting to get back to where I want to be,” Good told The Chronicle.

“It was a horrible couple of years but I feel this will be my first pre-season completed in a long while and I’m feeling a lot more confident in my body now, which is a big thing psychologically.

“It’s important to first and foremost get the confidence back in my body, then try to prove myself and try to challenge for a slot in the first team.”

For professional sportspeople, confidence in their own body is key to success.

Good has had to work his way back slowly - often taking one step forward and three back during his agonisingly drawn-out recovery - and he is still not as agile, flexible or physical as he was before he was first struck down by injury.

It may only have been a pre-season friendly tournament in Northamptonshire involving a Northern Premier League club and three Under-21 sides, but Good’s appearance for Peter Beardsley’s men in the Steel Park Cup over the weekend was extremely important to him personally.

The mountain of recovery has not quite been scaled yet, but the summit is not in sight.

“It was the same injury and I had the three surgeries; the first one didn’t work and it was sort of done more cautiously because of the area being operated on,” Good explained following United Under-21s’ Steel Park Cup victory.

“The third time I went over to Colorado and got some surgery and rehab out there which hopefully has done the trick and now it’s a good sign I think.

“It’s about getting games under your belt.

“Even playing at Corby you realise that physically you’re not what you were even a couple of years ago and, even though these games weren’t too tough, you can still feel it.

“You need to get that physical game back and that match sharpness; it’s important and every minute counts for me.”

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Continuing to top up his fitness for Beardsley’s reserves is all that Good is concentrating on for the time being, but behind the scenes a potential loan move has been touted for the one-cap Australia international defender.

Long-term ambitions of breaking into the United first team persist, but Rafa Benitez has told Good he must prove he is capable of competing physically at the top level before he will even be considered for selection.

Asked if he had spoken to Benitez about his future, Good added: “I did towards the end of last season and his biggest message to me was: ‘Prove you can still play at the top level physically.’

“So I’ve got to prove my fitness and that’s what I’m trying to do and trying to prove that to myself and to the club.

“I think it’s important that I get full games backed up and then we can see what happens but I must prove myself 100 per cent physically and see where it takes me.”

Good’s availability for the Under-21s is certainly to Beardsley’s advantage, with the former Melbourne Heart defender having gained experience on loan at Bradford City and Dundee United in the past.

As a result, he sees himself very much as a senior figure in the Under-21 set-up.

“Definitely I feel like a senior figure,” he continued.

“Look at the age group and there’s a few of us here now who are still in their early 20s but there’s others who are 16, 17 and 18 years of age.

“But I definitely feel like there’s a senior boy, particularly given that I was in their situation when I first came here.

“I’m on the flipside now though.”

It’s the flipside of his fitness problems which Good hopes he has now seen the back of. After two years of agony, things are finally starting to look brighter for the Australian.