Had awards been handed out at the end of last season, Aaron Jones would have walked (or limped) off with Unluckiest Player.

A knee injury, a brief tussle with Covid and then a ruptured Achilles meant the majority of his season was spent on a watching brief. Has it all gone to plan, the form he showed in the games he did play suggest he would have been a leading candidate for the Player of the Season gong.

A man of the match performance in the opening game, against Yeovil, set a high bar – and he rarely went below it. It was the Achilles injury that was the big blow and which means he will miss the start of the season.

The memory is all too vivid.

“It was in training, the day after Valentine’s Day. It was an hour and a half into training, so it wasn’t like I was cold, I was warm and I was feeling fine. Jarvs (Ryan Jarvis) pinged one out to the right, I have taken my touch down the line to go and whip in a cross and as I have pushed off my right foot I just literally felt like someone had shot me in the bottom of the calf. It was crazy because me and Ross Barrows - obviously he played right back as well - we were both rotating in and out for this specific drill and he was stood 10 yards behind me on the sideline waiting to go in after me and I thought he had come and done me from behind because I thought ‘that can’t have just happened on its own’.

“I couldn’t describe the feeling, it was as if he had come and volleyed me in the back of the leg, but then I looked around me as I have gone down and there is no one within 10 yards. Ross and Michael Gyasi said they heard it just go ‘ping’.”

Jones was operated on by an ankle specialist who has also treated on Gareth Bale and Neymar - and now it’s the seemingly endless recuperation. The Jones’ walk shows little sign of a limp and he’s optimistic of being able to return to playing in September.

“I am currently about a week or two away from running so I am feeling good, I am cycling, I am rowing so that next hurdle is running but it is a slow one, I think it is one of the worst injuries you can probably have like knees or Achilles.”