Star Melbourne AFL midfielder Jack Viney is ahead of schedule in his recovery from post-season hip surgery.
The 22-year-old is back running, doing one-on-one skills and some agility work and is confident the hip issues he carried this season are behind him.
"I'm probably a week ahead of schedule - it's all going really well at the moment," Viney told AAP.
"We're ramping up the loads, going from not doing too much to increasing quite quickly, so we're on track to hopefully be back in the main group at the start of December."
Viney was on crutches at the club's best-and-fairest awards where he claimed his first Keith "Bluey" Truscott Trophy just a week after the home-and-away season ended.
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"We finished on the Saturday against Geelong and I was in for the operation on the Monday morning," Viney said.
"We had it scanned a week before the last game and they decided I'd benefit a lot from the surgery.
"I've had a bit of a dodgy hip for a few years now and probably, halfway through the year, it just kept getting worse and worse.
"But I'm really happy with how it's going."
The Demons are also taking a cautious approach with former Essendon players Jake Melksham and Michael Hibberd, easing the pair back into pre-season after their year on the sidelines for anti-doping violations.
"It's a bit of a different situation in that they haven't been in a football program for 12 months," performance manager Dave Misson told the club's website.
"We don't want to throw them to the wolves and into the football program straight away without getting a real handle on where they're at.
"They need a little bit more base work, but I think they're going to be fine and we're looking for them to be full on into the program probably post-Christmas.
"(But) hopefully, they'll join in with the group before then."
Talls Tom McDonald (shoulder) and Cameron Pedersen (shoulder) and utility Aaron vandenBerg (ankle) are also on modified programs.
