Chev Walker believes that he has finally put his injury problems behind him ahead of his fourth year at the Bulls.

The 31-year-old suffered a horrific compound fracture of his leg back in 2009 for Hull KR against Leeds.

That saw him miss the entire 2010 campaign for the Robins before he penned a deal to join Mick Potter at Bradford ahead of the 2011 season.

Walker has since been plagued by a plethora of different injuries but last year played the most games during his three seasons at the Bulls.

“I think it was a matter of time that I got over them,” said Walker, who penned a new one year-deal last term.

“People go through stages in their career and I try not to dwell on them too much.

“Last year was the most amount of games that I’ve managed to play in a long while but I still managed to pick up a few little niggles.

“Hopefully I’m over them and I’ll be working hard over the course of pre-season to make sure that they get sorted out fully.”

Some players pick up injuries because they do not prepare in the right manner off the field. That criticism cannot be labelled at Walker.

A self-confessed health freak, the former Rhinos academy graduate’s preparation before and after matches is meticulous as he bids to extend his career at the top as long as he possibly can.

“Nutrition and recovery are just as important as the game-plan really,” Walker explained.

He added: “If you’re willing to invest that time into cooking your food and preparing your body the best you can, you will reap the benefits out of it.

“I love the game and I’ve never really classed it as a job but I treat it as professionally as I possibly can.

“For me it’s one of them where I want to play until there’s no deal on the table or the doctor tells me that I can’t. I’ll be doing everything that I can to make sure I keep playing.”

Being an experienced player within the squad, Walker is hoping to set an example to the younger players at the club.

“For me the younger players are equal. If they’re in that changing room alongside me they’re exactly the same as me. When I was growing up the senior players made you do what they wanted but it’s not like that for me.

“It’s the team environment that’s important and if Franny asks me to do something then I’ll do it because he runs the show.

"I’ll just be making sure that everyone else buys into what he wants. I don’t preach to anybody but I come in and try and be as professional as I possibly can. If the boys look at me and see me as an example then fair play.

“I hope they try to do what I do. There’s always avenues to improve and I’m trying to do it myself.”