GEELONG captain Joel Selwood believes brother Scott is in his best ever state post-surgery as he targets a quick return.

The youngest Selwood brother has played just 19 of a possible 49 games since joining the Cats and his persistent foot troubles continued in January when he had arthroscopy surgery on his right ankle.

But the club hopeful he can return to VFL level inside the first month of the season.

"He's fresher coming out of this one, more than any one he's ever had," Joel told AFL.com.au. 

"(He) wasn't overly pleased to get the surgery but once he had it and how freed up the ankle actually feels now, he's so pleased that he did it.

"He'll just play good footy at VFL level and come back from there. He's a pretty tough kid, as tough as I know."

At the Cats' season launch last week, Scott said he was hopeful to begin running inside a fortnight.

Joel's left ankle injury ruled him out of the final three matches of the 2017 home and away season, but the skipper remains confident it won’t hold him back for this year.

"Did it hold me back? It wasn't the best, but it was playable," he said.

"Am I regretful? Not really, I gave it my best go, I prepared as well as I possibly could.

"It was planned for December (training) to be lighter for me, come back in January and (I've) felt really good and haven't missed too much since then.

"(I) didn't plan on playing JLT one up in Townsville and JLT two it felt like I was running on top of the ground. May that continue."

Selwood will return for his seventh year as captain and bring up his 250-game milestone in round one against Melbourne.