Hateley, 17, fractured two vertebrae in his neck while playing football against Swifts on July 12. He returned home on Sunday.

"It is good to be back in the familiar confines of home," Hateley said. "I am starting to get back into my old routines."

Hateley appeared at the Horsham District Football League tribunal on Wednesday night for a hearing on the incident which left him injured.

Swifts ruckman Sam Cooper was given a four-match suspension for conduct unbecoming a player for the incident.

Cooper pleaded guilty and will miss the rest of the season and two games of the 2009 season.

The teenager described the experience as `different'.

"It turned out all right but I was not that worried about it," Hateley said. "I just want to continue with my recovery. He got four weeks but I will still have 12 months."

Hateley said he intended to play football again but not until 2010.

"I will try to make a comeback," he said. "But I have been told by my doctors not to play contact sports for at least 12 months which will rule out all of next season."

Hateley is walking around and improving with every day. He only wears his neck brace for parts of the day.

"They told me everything comes down to whether I feel I can do something," he said. "I put my neck brace on late in the day when I start to get tired. I am not in any pain. I just have a really stiff neck. But I am told the muscles will loosen up over time. If they don't I will need to get some treatment on them."

Hateley said he remembered most of what happened on the field.

"I wasn't knocked out or anything so I remember most of it," he said. "The worst part was spending three weeks on my back in hospital."