Colm Cooper hopes his three-month break in America will have "re-energised" him ahead of Kerry's All-Ireland defence.
Cooper claims he hadn't lost his hunger after last year's triumph but made the decision to step back from the game after talking with team-mates Declan O'Sullivan and Paul Galvin, both of whom returned rejuvenated after heading stateside.
"It's been a hard couple of years," Cooper said today. "I am still only 24 - I've been involved for a while. I think it just might re-energise me a little bit.
"It wasn't that I wasn't enjoying it or anything like that. I was enjoying it - I suppose you always enjoy it when you are winning All-Irelands and championships and titles and things like that. I felt fine at the end of last season.
"I felt fresh and I was enjoying my football and I just felt that if I took the break now, I could be even more re-energised when I come home and be ready for a big season for Kerry in 2008. That was my aim going and I am just hoping that that we see a fresher Colm Cooper in 2008 basically."
Cooper, who hopes to help the Kingdom to a third All-Ireland in a row this year, says the effect the sojourn had on Galvin and O'Sullivan amazed him last year. He is now recommending that any young athlete feeling the strain of competition should do the same.
"I just looked at their performances last year, and Declan had a fantastic year and Paul contributed hugely as well so it didn't them too long to get fit when they got home and they began to get form back fairly quickly as well.
"I had a chat to both of them about it prior to going and they felt it was a good thing and that I should go for it, especially when it was only a couple of months. It wasn't like I was going for six or nine months; it was only three months really.
"I would recommend it for any young person if they are in sport or whatever just to do it sometime, whether it is Australia or America or wherever you go."