"Individual awards are nice but the reason you play footy is for that ultimate team success," Gray said."[The award] probably something you don't really think about too much – we're just really focused on what we want to achieve this year still."Gray's future appeared in genuine doubt in early 2012 when he suffered a horrific knee injury against Collingwood in round four, which required a reconstruction.He returned to competitive football within 12 months and then built solid formthroughout 2013. Teammate Matthew Lobbe told AFL.com.au Gray changed his approach to football during his rehabilitation and has since proved the "ultimate professional".Gray said the experience had helped turn him into the player he now was."Having that time off, I learnt a fair bit about myself and changed a few things," he said."I certainly prepare better now than I used to…[I'm] more diligent with my work during the week in the gym, out on the track, little things like diet."I had been playing for six or seven years at that stage and I'd had a fair few issues with my body, I suppose when you have a year straight out of the game you start to realise [your career] goes pretty quick."I just wanted to get back and give myself the best opportunity to play my best footy."But Gray said there were parts to his game that he felt he could still improve on.Although he's nailed 32 goals in 2014, he's also kicked 27 behinds and said he'd like to tidy up his finishing skills when in range."There's always room for improvement, coaches are always looking for areas to improve your game and I'm no different from anyone else on the list in that respect,"I probably haven't finished off my work as well as I would have liked this year in front of goal, some of the midfield stuff, inside, setups – stuff like that."2003 - Nathan Buckley (Collingwood)2004 - Warren Tredrea (Port Adelaide)2005 - Barry Hall (Sydney)2006 - Simon Goodwin (Adelaide) and Adam Goodes (Sydney)2007 - Gary Ablett (Geelong)2008 - Gary Ablett (Geelong)2009 - Gary Ablett (Geelong)2010 - Dane Swan (Collingwood)2011 - Marc Murphy (Carlton)2012 - Trent Cotchin (Richmond)2013 - Scott Pendlebury (Collingwood)