Christian Doidge was so far out of the picture at Hibs that his summer return to training was greeted with a few funny looks.

Having spent the previous season on a low-key loan at Kilmarnock, few will have predicted that just a few short months later the Welshman would be leading the line in an Edinburgh derby. OK, his return to the capital’s premier fixture didn’t exactly go to plan, but there were few who covered themselves in much glory throughout the first hour of what was eventually a well-earned Tynecastle draw.

The original point stands, though, his selection that day is indicative of a player enjoying somewhat of a rebirth at Easter Road. Even after reporting back to HTC for pre-season, former Lee Johnson publicly discussed the prospect that his return could be a mere flying visit.

And yet here he is, in weekly contention for a starting berth under Nick Montgomery.

“I came back pre-season and I think everyone was quite surprised to see me!” Doidge told the Longbangers podcast. "But I’ve got a lot of close friends at Hibs, and I spoke to them over the summer.

"I was going to come back and work really hard and try to change their opinion of me. 

"Obviously the old manager was in, and it was touch and go for a long time whether I’d be staying, even after a few games I was very close to leaving.

“But it was my decision to stay; I wanted to remain at Hibs.”

There’s an acute self-awareness in how Doidge frames his return as being to prove people wrong. When he headed for Rugby Park in summer 2022, it did not have a ‘get fit again and come back firing next year’ feel to it, despite signing a contract extension barely a year earlier. The forward missed several months of the 2021/22 campaign with an Achilles tendon injury, and by the time he returned, manager Jack Ross had lost his job.

READ MORE: How Hibs are turning the spotlight back onto youth

His successor, Shaun Maloney, had Doidge flitting in and out of action until he too was shown the door. In came Johnson, heralding what could have been the beginning of the end of his Hibs career. Players will quickly get a feel for where they stand when a new boss arrives, but Doidge was never in any hurry to leave.

“I love playing for this club,” he said in summer 2022. “And I’m going to keep turning up until I’m told otherwise.”

Doidge scored a hat-trick in the League Cup against Clyde, but was continually linked with other clubs while other strikers were linked with Hibs, which was telling of where he stood with Johnson. His year at Kilmarnock was far from memorable, notching just three times for a Killie side that were, admittedly, anything but free-scoring.

By the time he came back to Edinburgh, Hibs had signed Adam Le Fondre and were in hot pursuit of Dylan Vente. It seemed there would be little room for Doidge, but he wasn’t for throwing the towel in.

Montgomery’s arrival and the weekly use of two strikers are perhaps the best thing that could have happened to him. It’s a setup that requires a degree of rotation as – with the utmost respect! - the 36-year-old Le Fondre is unlikely to start every single match alongside Vente.

Doidge also brings a skillset different to that of his two counterparts, a more physically imposing option for those situations where Hibs might need that direct route out of trouble. That, and he’s always been a willing worker. There’s also a clear affection for the club and the opportunities he’s been afforded, something Doidge believes he’d struggle to recapture elsewhere if he departed.

"I was to leave, I probably wouldn’t play for a club the same size again in my career,” he told Longbangers. “I’ve been here a long time and really enjoyed it and I’m not sure I want it to end yet.”

Now 31, this is the final year of Doidge’s current contract and, before long, there will inevitably be questions asked about whether there’s any prospect of an extension. Montgomery’s 4-4-2 formation requires options in the final third, and it would be no surprise if he were to look to the transfer market for another striker come January.

Where that would leave Doidge remains to be seen, and it likely depends on whether he can once again add sufficient goals to his unwavering commitment to the cause. But, for now, he seems determined to make the most of what may just feel like an unlikely second chance in a Hibs jersey.