IN RECENT weeks it has become a common sight around the hallways of Linen House Centre to see Beau Maister alongside Sam Gilbert.

The pair are both recovering from injury together, Gilbert coming back from a knee injury and Maister from a hamstring.

After reasonably lengthy layoffs, both are nearing a return to football and have been working together as they tackle rehabilitation together.

Maister said Gilbert has been good company in what can often be a lonely process.

[ RELATED: Full injury list ]

“I’ve been blessed with having Sam Gilbert in the rehab group with me. Obviously I want the best for him and it would be great to have him back out there playing but it has worked out that we are on the same sort of program so we have been able to do everything together which has made it a bit easier,” Maister told saints.com.au.

“It is hard being away from the main group. You don’t feel a part of it as much and you do your own thing. You get here earlier than everyone else and you are out before the rest of the group leaves. You do feel detached a little but it is all good.”

Maister said he and Gilbert have shared an unofficial ‘buddy’ arrangement where they have been closely monitoring each other’s progress while offering encouragement and motivation when necessary.

“We have had a good relationship the whole time and we have got each other through. He has been great and I would like to think I have been great as well,” he said.

Maister hasn’t played since injuring his hamstring against West Coast in round 11 but is making steady progress and expects to return to football shortly.

“It has been about seven weeks since surgery. I haven’t had a bad history with hamstrings so it was late in the game and I hyper-extended my knee. It felt foreign to me and the hamstring came off the bone,” Maister said.

“I didn’t know too much about it until the next day when we scanned it and it showed that it came away from the fibula. That was fairly odd because I hadn’t experienced anything like that before. I didn’t think too much of it. It felt normal and if anything a bit unstable. But it was a weird one. It was late in the game so I didn’t really test it out too much. It felt OK afterwards.”

The early stages of Maister’s recovery was in his words “baby steps” consisting of a slow rehabilitation program that initially had him confined to the weights room with the odd light jog or walk.

But he has since progressed strongly to the point that he is aiming to be fit for next week’s clash with the Swans.

“I am looking to play against Sydney, if all goes well. I’m hoping to get no hiccups and if all goes to plan I will be back the week we play Sydney. I’ve built up to full pace and today I have felt as good as I have had the whole time,” he said.

“I’m not the best spectator, watching games of footy. I would love to be out there helping out where I can but it has been a bit tough sitting and watching but you learn a lot as well when you see how the rest of the guys go about it. I would rather be out there though.”