IN THE context of his injury history, a couple of weeks on the sidelines with a calf problem is no big deal for Lenny Hayes.

But for Hayes, who has famously returned from two knee reconstructions, the fact that his latest injury is so minor is the reason for so much frustration.

“It’s not something you ever get used to. You do a lot of hard work over the pre-season to get yourself right and unfortunately at my age it does tend to happen a little more with the soft tissue,” Hayes said.

“Probably the most frustrating thing is that it is not a major injury by any stretch of the imagination but it is one of those ones that just hangs around for a little bit and feels good but I get a slight aggravation of it.”

[ RELATED: Full injury list ]

Hayes injured the calf in the lead-up to the round six game against Collingwood where he was a last-minute withdrawal.

He returned after a three-week absence for the round nine game against the Western Bulldogs only to be substituted off after re-injuring the calf.

Hayes has been on the injury list ever since despite feeling ready to go in many respects.

“The thing with the calf is that the week after injuring it I am running at top pace. But it is more when you get fatigued and get to that third quarter,” he said.

In an interview with radio station 3AW on Sunday, Hayes said last year’s interchange rule changes had made it difficult for players hoping to manage their workload.

“Especially now with three on the interchange and one sub you can’t control how much rest you have on the bench so when I came back and played against the Bulldogs, I’d be off for 20 seconds,” he said.

“You can’t get any work done on it, you hardly get your breath back and then you’re out there again. When you’d have the four on the bench you would have the four interchange players and the set rotation. It’s very hard to do these days.”