Despite fact we know he’ll be out for some months yet, it was a heartening sight to finally see Niko Katic back and out of crutches.

On the sticks as recently a number of weeks ago, Katic has knuckled down and taken his injury as well as any young player could, appearing in good spirits when he put in a guest slot on the new RTV and keeping fans up to date with progress via social media.

And already a hell of a unit, the giant Croat has bulked up further during his months out and is honestly an absolute physical monster these days, who is now back on his feet and able to carry out gentle free tasks without the aid of support.

It’s a cracking sight, because while he’s made his mistakes and still isn’t the perfect defender, physically he has every chance of being, and many of his biggest fans, Ibrox Noise included, can see the full potential behind this player.

Katic only needs to learn the subtle side of the game, that the art of defending isn’t about, as he amusingly put it recently, ‘smashing everything’. He needs the patience, and the concentration, and when he adds that more cultured aspect of rearguard sport, he really will be about as perfect a defender as you can get.

Big, strong, fast, powerful, willing to roll his sleeves up, decent tackler, and physically imposing, Katic just needs to remember to engage that grey matter a little more.

But at the end of the day he’s back, he’s getting fit, and while we still suspect a long time before we see him even on the bench, it’s still fantastic to see the lad able to show us he’s on his way.

Welcome back Niko.