Essendon forward Joe Daniher remains noncommittal to his playing future at the club beyond the end of his contract, which expires at the conclusion of season 2020.

The injury prone tall broke his silence on Thursday morning after his failed attempted trade to Sydney during the 2019 off-season.

Daniher, a free agent at the end of next season, has returned to Tullamarine and will focus on his body first, before looking to explore another trade or sign a contract extension.

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“The first point of call has been my body and that is my priority now,” Daniher told reporters.

“Getting my body to a position where I can train hard and have that sustained continuity for the same time. Following that it will be playing for the football club and offering something on field.

“There will be a lot of speculations and hypotheticals about what next year might look like, but the priority for me is getting out there and putting on a really good performance for this football club.”

The 25-year-old opened up on his decision to request a move away from Tullamarine, but is fully committed to getting back with his teammates at pre-season training.

“I obviously requested a trade to the Sydney Football Club after a long period of time working closely with family and friends,” he explained.

“ I felt it was the best move for me to freshen up and have a fresh start, but I knew I was under contract and had some really good conversations with the club and they made me aware it was going to be difficult to do. I was fully supportive of that and I’m happy to get started and get stuck into it.”

Daniher has been restricted to just 11 AFL games in the last two years, due to constant groin injuries, with the forward having a career-best season in 2017 where he booted 65 goals.

“The body and the mind are pretty closely related. Putting those two things together along with a fresh start would help,” he said.

Joe Daniher hasn’t confirmed where he will be playing beyond 2020. Source: AAP

“Obviously the conversation and open dialogue we had all the way through, it wasn’t the be all and end all of existence (if a trade couldn’t be struck), but I thought it was the best thing for me.

“It’s probably just the amount of time it takes (which I will need to address with the club) and I’m probably just going to have to get there earlier than my teammates, take some quiet time to work with the physios. It’s probably going to be more of a time based thing. I’m looking forward to doing that.”