The Navarre footballer was severely injured during a Lexton Plains reserves match in May last year when a tackle by a Carngham-Linton opponent left him with a contusion in the C3-C4 area of the spinal cord.

The impact left him unable to move anything below his neck, and doctors feared he would never walk again.

"I just picked up the ball and got tackled, and as I got tackled my head got forced forward,'' the Grasshoppers senior premiership player recalls.

"I fell back and as I was falling I just couldn't move. All I could move was my neck.

"I was like a hyper-flexion injury, so the head got forced forward and the spinal cord had nowhere to go and just got crushed. It cut off all movement and all supply below the neck.''

A month in the Victorian Spinal Cord Service at Austin Health followed before being transferred back to Ballarat for two more weeks in hospital. Rehabilitation then began and continues to this day.

While the 33-year-old can walk, it isn't without a fair share of discomfort. The permanent scars of that day at Linton remain with the father-of-two, and will for the rest of his life.

"There are still a few lingering things. I'll probably never be able to run again,'' Dalton said.

"The whole left side, even the left arm, is still affected in that way.

"Im functionable, I can get around and play with my kids and do all those sorts of things. Just sport and things like that are all out of the question.''

But he is simply glad he has movement, when things could have been so much worse.

"I'm more than grateful,'' he said.

"It's an eye-opener being in Melbourne for a month in the hospital down there, seeing other people in their predicaments.

"What I've got is nothing compared to what others have got.

"If you're going to have a spinal injury, this is the one you want.''

Dalton will be able to put his problems behind him at Eureka Stadium on Saturday when he steps out to toss the coin in Saturday's NAB Challenge match between North Melbourne and Hawthorn.

His opportunity to be part of the pre-match formalities comes through the NAB's partnership with the AFL's Challenge competition, which focuses on bringing footy to the community and the fans.

"It will be a big thrill just getting out there and meeting the players and being able to toss the coin," Dalton, who works at Ballarat's NAB branch, said.