Geelong full forward Tom Hawkins has returned to training for the first time since undergoing post-season knee surgery.
Hawkins had aย piece of his meniscus removed after he suffered a small tear to it during the season.
โHe is gradually coming back into the fold,โ Geelong assistant coach James Rahilly said.
โHe is doing some drills and hopefully in the not too distant future he will be training fully. Itโs going to be great for the forward line to get a leader back in that position.
โObviously he straightens us up as well.
"Itโs been a very straight forward rehab. He is going well. He is still quite strong.โ
Rahilly said Hawkins is on track to take part in the Cats' pre-season campaign in the newly named JLT Community Series.
โI think with the amount of training he will get from now until the end (of pre-season), I think he should show his face in one of the games, if not all of them for sure,โ Rahilly said.
Geelong's first pre-season game is against Hawthorn at the University of Tasmania Stadium on Friday, February 17.
