Caley Thistle defender Josh Meekings hopes to put his injury frustration behind him when he returns for pre-season training this summer.
Meekings was restricted to just 26 appearances last season, with hip and knee injuries causing lengthy absences.
The English centre half played the final weeks of the season at right back, deputising for David Raven who fell out of favour under now departed manager John Hughes. With Richie Foran having now taken over as Inverness manager – and Raven one of several players to commit his future to the Highlanders for next season – Meekings is optimistic that he and his team-mates can hit the ground running next term.
Meekings said: “You never want to be injured as a player. It’s just one of those things, you have to get on with it and deal with it.
“I tried to come back and contribute as much as I could after I came back and I feel like I did that.
“I’ve got the rest but I’ve just got to come back in pre-season and work hard and try to hopefully stay injury free next season.
“If you’ve got a good core of a squad, everyone stays together and everyone knows each other it helps.
“We just have to wait and see what happens and in pre-season we need to be ready to go.”
Caley Jags finished last season strongly with four wins from their final five post-split games prior to Hughes’ departure.
Despite finishing in the bottom half of the table for the first time in four years, Meekings reckons Caley Jags can embark upon the new era with optimism under new manager Foran.
The 23-year-old added: “Obviously, we didn’t get in the top six, which was what we wanted. But I think injuries played a big part in that.
“We had quite a few big injuries and the way we finished off the season was a credit to everyone.
“The boys dug in deep and we finished off as the best of the rest, which was what we wanted to do. We can take positives out of the way we finished the season.”
