Huddersfield Town defender Radinio Balker admits he has been “smiling ever since” he made his return from his long-term ankle injury.

The centre-back suffered a fractured ankle in a pre-season friendly against Harrogate Town in July, a setback that left him sidelined for around five-and-a-half months.

The 26-year-old made his return in the 1-0 win at Wycombe Wanderers in early January, with the defender having now featured five times for the Terriers this season, including making two starts against Bolton Wanderers and Northampton Town.

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Reflecting on being back involved, Balker said: “I’ve been smiling ever since I’ve been back. Sometimes you lose a little bit of the joy when you’re always playing, and I definitely have that back now.

“I’ve been out for five or six months, I had some injuries before that as well, so I’m just really happy to be back and just enjoy the game again.”

Balker knew his setback could be significant at the time of sustaining the injury, with the defender saying: “I didn’t want to believe it, but when it happened, I immediately felt it.

“I could feel it was a little bit loose down there, so I actually wanted to walk off, but I kind of knew I wasn’t able to. When it happened, I knew it was a bad one.”

While physically the defender has had a long road to recovery, the centre-back also spoke of the mental challenge that the lengthy spell on the sidelines posed.

“I look quite big, but I’m not very keen on doing things in the gym. I have to do it, it’s my job, but that’s basically what I was doing,” Balker said.

“You’re not really doing things you really like to do. When you’re a football player, you like to play football, and not being in the gym doing heavy weights and everything, and that’s what I had to do.

“Mainly just not being able to do the thing you love the most, and that’s playing football, that was the hardest. Besides that, of course you see your teammates on the pitch, and especially when we had that seven or eight games when we didn’t win, that made it hard to see that you can’t help them.

“The mental part is the hardest I think. Of course physically you want to get back to what you were, but over time that will come, the mental part is like in that moment, you feel very bad.”

Balker made his first start of the campaign in the defeat to Bolton Wanderers, but only featured as a late substitute in the loss to Birmingham City in midweek. The centre-back returned to the starting 11 for Saturday’s 3-2 defeat at Northampton Town. Discussing his fitness, Balker said: “I feel like if it was Saturday to Saturday, it would’ve been no problem, but since it was Saturday to Tuesday, it was a little bit too soon, especially with my injury past.

“I feel like that’s probably why they also thought maybe it’s better to not start (against Birmingham), and maybe Saturday I’m available to start again. I think if it’s Saturday to Saturday, I’m already available to do that, but maybe Saturday to Tuesday is just a build up to that.

“I’ve not been on the pitch for a long time, so I want to play games, and if we’re going to push it, then the injury risk is higher.”

Balker is now tasked with playing his part in Town’s promotion push in the second half of the season, with the Terriers sitting fifth in League One with 18 matches left to play.

On what he aims to bring to the side in the remaining games, the defender said: “I just hope some calmness on the ball, and besides just some solid defending. I think we can use some quality on the ball as well, so hopefully I can bring that, and just some stability as well.”