MELBOURNE'S 2009 best and fairest winner Aaron Davey is on track to make his return to football for the opening round of the NAB Cup.

Davey’s 2010 campaign came to a premature end when he fractured his left leg in the round 20 loss to Hawthorn.

"I’ve been back doing everything I’ve been required to do in the pre-season. Everything is going along really smoothly," Davey told afl.com.au.

"Touch wood it keeps going the way it is and I am really looking forward to the start of the NAB Cup and the season."

Davey’s injury was on the lower end of the scale - when it comes to broken legs - but he has been closely watched as he returned to full training.

Ominously, he said he was feeling as well as he did in the lead-up to his career-best season in 2009 when he had a licence to run out of defence and through the midfield.

"The physio and fitness staff have been awesome with me and really monitored my program up until Christmas," he said.

"Everything since then has been full on and injury free. I’m feeling pretty confident in this year coming up for myself and I’ve got the same feeling I had coming into 2009."

Davey has had a good sounding board in his road to recovery, talking regularly with younger brother Alwyn who faced a far longer rehabilitation period when he ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament in 2008.

"I broke my leg and he did his ACL so it is different. But we have a bit of a chat because he has had a horrible run with injury over the past couple of years," Davey said.

"Mine was only minor, so I was a lot luckier than he has been. We catch up about once a week so it’s all good."

The sight of both Davey brothers zooming around the park is one of football’s great spectacles, but Aaron concedes that Alwyn would probably take the points in a foot race if both were fully fit.

"I’ll leave it up to him because he’s pretty quick, little Frog," he said.

"As quick as I may look, I’d have to say the little brother’s got me on that one."