AFTER two wretched seasons destroyed by injury, Brisbane Lions' backline general Josh Drummond is ready for a change of luck.

Drummond played seven matches in 2010 before tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee, and was restricted to just seven again last season as quad and ultimately hip problems curtailed his output.

The 28-year-old has played only 79 career games since making his debut in round eight, 2005 - just more than half the games available to him.

After off-season hip surgery wiped out the early part of his pre-season, Drummond is now back running and expected to be available for round one against Melbourne.

"In the early part of my career I had a lot of soft tissue injuries and things that kept popping up and I did a lot of work to get stronger and get resilient enough to handle an AFL season," Drummond said.

"So to get freak accidents like the knee that you can't predict was definitely frustrating, but I feel a lot stronger this pre-season. I've been able to get really strong and I think it'll help me the next couple of years."

With his penetrating left boot and laser-like precision coming out of the back half, there is little doubt Drummond is one of the most valuable players on the list.

When he fires, so do the Lions.

Although plenty of things both on and off field have happened at the Gabba since their last finals appearance in 2009, it was no coincidence the boy from the Sunshine Coast played 20 games that season and had a huge influence.

Drummond admitted at times he had cursed his luck but refused to dwell on the past.

"A few years ago I played nearly every game and thought I'd turned the corner, but you realise they're the cards you're dealt and you've got to work as hard as you can to reverse those," he said.

"I know a lot of guys out there are worse off than me and I'm just very grateful to have the opportunity to play AFL at the highest level - I definitely don't take that for granted.

"I'm just working as hard as I can to take the luck out of it and make sure the body is nice and strong."

Drummond said despite the injuries his kicking would not be compromised, and he'd been able to continue practising as the hip surgery was on his non-dominant right side.

He said he was hoping to play one or two pre-season games and was looking forward to playing alongside leaders Jonathan Brown and Daniel Merrett who also missed big chunks of last season with injury.

"Last year was extremely disappointing from a win-loss perspective, but the feeling around the club internally was a hell of a lot better and more positive than the year before," he said.

"I think last year felt like we were building towards something and were extremely competitive in every game bar a couple.

"Playing this year and seeing the young guys continue to develop is going to be very exciting."

Michael Whiting covers Brisbane Lions news for AFL.com.au. Follow him on Twitter: @mike_whiting