KEEPING perspective.

Jesse Motlop has provided an update on his ACL recovery, with the small forward joining the WA Blues’ Breakfast with the Blues over the bye weekend.

After playing every game in 2025, Motlop was sidelined with a knee injury in the first session back of 2026, going down in the final minutes of training.

For Motlop, it would’ve been easy to go into his shell as he faced 12 months on the sidelines. But for a player who brings so much life to the group in the four walls of IKON Park, he made sure to not let his setback define him.

“As much as it’s a bad situation, there’s definitely a lot worse and I’m surrounded by such good people - family, friends, teammates, everyone at the Club have gotten behind me and been great. To be honest, there probably isn’t one person that didn’t reach out, which is why I’ve got that gratitude,” Motlop said.

“I try not to think too far down the line, just to make it mentally easier for me. It’s hard not to think about that first game back and when it’s going to be.

“I’ll do a lot of the little things in our program: something like a culture session or a lighter day where you do touch. I’ll make sure I’m always around the group and connected.”

At the time of writing, Motlop is currently six weeks post-operation, as he looks towards his next milestone in his recovery of returning to running.

He said he has made it a focus to appreciate “the little wins”, being able to draw on the experiences of current teammates and their past experiences.

“Unfortunately when I did it, I had the feeling something bad had happened. I had a scan pretty much as soon as I got off the track, it was a pretty long 15 minutes waiting.

“You expect the worse, but you’re praying that there’s a bit of hope.

“The big thing for me is focusing on the little wins along the way, because it’s going to be a long road no matter what. If you can focus on the little wins and the little goals, the next one for me is to start running.

“It’s pretty early on, so I’ll keep working towards that and then it’ll be onto the next thing. It’ll make the process a lot quicker, always focusing on the positives.”

Watching on from the sidelines, Motlop has enjoyed seeing his teammates embrace more flair in the way the Blues are looking to move the ball in 2026.

And seeing a close mate back out on the track has been an added bonus.

“‘Cotts’ brings so much energy to the group, it’s so good to see him on the track: he was pretty interrupted last year and it wasn’t an ideal pre-season.

“Whether it’s on the field or off the field, he’s the life of the party and so exciting to watch - I love watching him as a player. He’s one of my favourite players to watch. Seeing him back out there and prancing around with a smile is great.”