EXPECTATIONS weren't sky high when Mitch Wallis made his AFL return after 300 days out recovering from a gruesome broken leg.

The tough onballer had played well in three successive VFL games but facing a fired-up Geelong under the bright Friday night lights at Simonds Stadium was a different story altogether.

But Wallis was unfazed by the occasion and played the best game of his career, according to the Schick AFL Player Ratings.

He scored 28.5 points against the Cats after racking up 26 disposals, 20 contested possessions, 12 clearances and two goals in a mighty performance.

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As a point of comparison, Essendon captain Dyson Heppell returned after 566 days out of the game due to a WADA-enforced doping ban to post a score of 24.3 against Hawthorn in the opening round this year.

Champion Gold Coast midfielder Gary Ablett came back from a left shoulder reconstruction in round one, 2015, to notch up 22.4.

Wallis' impressive first-up form, 10 months after he snapped the tibia and fibula in his left leg in horrific fashion in round 18 last year, was nothing short of extraordinary.

An even more gobsmacking comeback came from Geelong forward Daniel Menzel, who stepped on to the field in round 22, 2015 after 1449 days away from the AFL stage and booted four goals against Collingwood in a heartwarming display after undergoing four knee reconstructions.

Meanwhile, debate still swirls around Hawthorn onballer Tom Mitchell's impact in picking up 50 disposals against Collingwood in his side's 18-point loss at the MCG on Saturday night.

Mitchell was awarded a combined five votes by coaches Alastair Clarkson and Nathan Buckley in the AFLCA Champion Player of the Year Award. The Collingwood mentor queried how damaging Mitchell was in his post-match press conference but went some way to clarifying his stance in a tweet on Monday.

So not to be misrepresented. Tom Mitchell played an amazing game on the weekend and I believe our midfielders were instrumental in the win. — Nathan Buckley (@ncb_cfc) May 22, 2017

The former Swan scored 14.7 in the ratings, which was sixth-best for his side.

Part of the reason he finished with a relatively low score was that 32 of those disposals were won in the defensive half.

He had only one effective kick in the forward half.

Two other players have racked up at least 50 disposals this decade and also failed to deliver huge ratings scores. Ablett scored 23.8 against Collingwood in 2012 after he racked up 53 disposals, while Adelaide's Scott Thompson had 51 disposals against Gold Coast in 2011 for 18.4 points.

Top Schick AFL Player Ratings scores after long injury absences

