Injured prop Matt Scott concedes he will be pushing it to represent Australia at the World Cup but is happy with how his knee is progressing.
The World Cup-winning forward tore his ACL playing for North Queensland in round two, ruling him out of the NRL season and representative football.
With the Kangaroos opening the tournament against England on October 27 in Melbourne, Scott faces a race against time to be fit.
"I think it might still be pushing it," Scott told AAP.
"I'll leave that decision until later in the year. I'm not going to push the knee just to play in it.
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"But I'll always hold out hope because it's the World Cup, it's what everyone wants to be a part of."
Scott was an integral part of Australia's 2013 World Cup win and has notched up 22 Tests for the Kangaroos.
Six weeks after surgery his recovery is going well.
"It's just a pretty slow process at the moment, so I've got to take it easy," Scott said.
"Any injury is frustrating but something long-term like this is always going to be a little bit difficult.
"I've never been good watching footy from the sidelines, so it's going to be a long year."
Scott, along with injured South Sydney star Greg Inglis, has been in Canberra with the Kangaroos during the week with coach Mal Meninga asking them to help build team culture.
"Mal wanted both of us down here to help promote that part of the team and have some more familiar faces around camp," Scott said.
Inglis is recovering from the same injury as Scott, with the Kangaroos centre going down in the Rabbitohs' season opener.
