While playing with Dimboola, the talented forward copped a knee to the back and ruptured his spleen, putting him into intensive care.

"It was pretty bad, I spent two weeks in the ICU," Kuhne said.

"I think there's about five litres of blood in your system and I lost three of them.

"It was pretty serious there for a while. I was a bit young and I've sort of forgotten about it now ... but I suppose I could've ended up in the ground."

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Kuhne sat out the remainder of the season, but showed his fighting spirit to be back playing football the following year.

The medium-sized forward has since made a full recovery and showed his quality in 2018, leading the Horsham District goal kicking in his first season in the league.

Kuhne crossed to Kalkee from Dimboola before the 2018 season, joining his former coach Stuart Farr.

"I had played all my footy at Dim and it was a pretty tough decision to move," Kuhne said. "I knew Stuart from my time there so that was probably the main reason I came across.

"I definitely get the best out of my footy playing under him. He pushes us to our limits but I enjoy it."

Now Kuhne is adapting to a different role after playing mainly as a stay-at-home forward in his first season at the club. He has pushed further up the ground this year hoping to affect the contest beyond the scoreboard.

"It's a bit 50-50, I'm sharing the role deep a little bit," Kuhne said.

"I'm just trying to lead up high at the ball, effect the contest and also trying to get to those front and centres."

Kuhne said he was willing to do whatever the team required, as he hoped to go one better than last season's disappointing grand final loss.

"That sort of sticks in the back of your mind a bit," Kuhne said. "It was my first senior grand final.

"It does motivate you to get to training and work hard to get that success at the end of the year.

"When we play our natural brand of footy I think we can beat anyone in the comp, so hopefully we can go that one extra this year."

After two close eight-point wins against Rupanyup and Edenhope-Apsley, Kalkee showed their strength with a 51 point victory against Laharum last weekend. In round five, they take on Swifts away from home in a litmus test for both sides.

"It's a pretty important game for both teams heading into the interleague bye," Kuhne said. "Hopefully if we hit the contest hard we'll be in good stead."