High Performance Manager, Justin Crow, said the playing group has returned from the Christmas break ready to attack a gruelling second half of the pre-season.

Crow also revealed the list is currently in a healthy state, with a number of players returning to full training after successfully completing their rehabilitation programs.

All-Australian defender, Michael Hurley, is back to full duties after a modified start to the pre-season. 

“He has had a good preseason, his hip and wrist surgery went well so he will be on some match play today and we are really happy with how he is going,” Crow said.

David Myers was another player to go under the knife at the conclusion of last season but hasn’t missed a beat since hitting the track.

“David had his finger operated on, that hasn’t affected his preseason at all. He has got in majority of the training both pre and post-Christmas, and he’s in a really good place,” Crow said.

Jordan Ridley suffered an ankle injury just before Christmas, but Crow is upbeat about the talented young defenders progress.

“He is four weeks post-injury now, he has been out of the moon boot for a week, is walking around and will be alter-g running later this week we hope,” he said.

Ruckman Matthew Leuenberger missed parts of last season due to a recurring shoulder injury but is back into training with the main group.

“He had a shoulder operation, he has just come up to four months post-surgery and is working on his contact progressions and is back into competitive training drills, and now onto some match play,” Crow said.

After playing two games in the AFL side, including ANZAC Day, Ben McNiece suffered an injury to his neck keeping him sidelined for the remainder of the season.

“Ben’s neck settled down well, the specialist was very happy and Ben has had an uninterrupted pre-season. He is out there training with no issues which is great news.”

Josh Green has recovered from the foot surgery he underwent in August last year.

“Josh had a Jones fracture, he had previously done his other side, we had it operated on and that has come along really well. It recovered well enough that Josh was able to join in on most of preseason Christmas training and he has a good base behind him now,” he said.

Jackson Merrett is back on the track after breaking his leg during a VFL game against Collingwood in July.

“Surgery went well, Jackson was able to complete most of the pre-Christmas training so he will absolutely be ready for the start of the preseason period.”

New recruit, Luke Lavender, had surgery to his shoulder prior to coming to the Club and is progressing well.

“Obviously as a first year he has a modified program anyway. We are getting a lot of those athletic development work into Luke in the meantime,” Crow said.

“It has been five months since his surgery, so it’s looking very good and he is doing very much a first year players program.”

Travis Colyer has been placed in a moon boot due to pain in his foot but is expected to return to regular training in the coming weeks.

“Travis has sesamoid pain, sesamoids are a couple of little bones in your foot that can become painful. In order to settle that down, we have Trav in a boot, he has been in that for here weeks and he will come out of that when it has settled and then he will build back in again,” Crow said.

“He is progressing really nicely and getting a good training base.”

Aaron Francis also sat out from training in the first week back but is expected to return early next week.

“He has some mild irritation in his hip flexor, which usually responds well to cortisone rest so we are expecting Aaron to be back running, if not today, on Monday. We will take a slow approach just to make sure we get that right,” Crow said.