Shields is about to embark on his third consecutive season with the Hammers

Lakeside Hammers captain Adam Shields says he is fully recovered from the broken back he suffered last season.

Shields, 32, was injured in a crash whilst competing for the Hammers at Peterborough last August.

But ahead of the new Elite League campaign he told BBC Essex: "It's been a tough winter of recovering from it and a lot of extra hard training.

"But I'm exactly where I would have wanted to be if I hadn't had the crash, so I would say I'm 100% recovered."

Shields spent most of the winter in his native Australia, where he admits he had plenty of time to take stock of his career.

He said: "There were times when I was laying in hospital feeling sorry for myself and thinking 'do I really want to do this?'

"But a couple of weeks after that you get to reassess why you're doing it and how much you love it and it's probably made me more hungry for it."

The Hammers begin their 2009 campaign with a challenge match against Ipswich Witches this week before the season proper gets underway with a Knock-Out Cup tie against Eastbourne on Friday, 27 March.

Last season the Essex outfit finished runners-up in both that competition and also the Elite League.

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