Ellis, 20, carried the hip injury throughout last year's finals series before going under the knife to correct the problem late in November.
He'll bypass the NAB Cup while he catches up on the running he missed out on during his recuperation, but remains on target for round one of the home-and-away season.
"The operation went very well and they said everything is fixed," Ellis says.
"I'm back running and kicking and all that sort of stuff, so hopefully it's all smooth sailing from here to round one.
"The fitness staff have got me doing a fair bit of fitness work at the moment rather than gearing up to play games. I don't feel I've missed much pre-season training because while the guys are playing I'll be doing 300m and 100m runs with the fitness coach."
Ellis suffered the injury during the round 20 loss to Richmond and became increasingly concerned as the discomfort lingered into September.
"I just felt a bit of a sharp pain after a collision and scans showed there was a lot of blood around the area," he says.
"Leading into the grand final I knew there was a problem, but I wasn't really sure what it was. It turned out there was some cartilage damage in the hip joint and I had to have a bit of work done on the bone where they had to cut into it to straighten it out.
"It wasn't too painful though. I had a very swollen backside, but that was about it."
Ellis overcame the pain to be among his side's best in the premiership win, but laughs off suggestions he could have had an even bigger day if he had been 100 per cent fit.
"Most players have little niggles and playing front of 100,000 people you're not really thinking about that sort of stuff," he says.
"The adrenalin kicks in so I didn't feel like it hindered me at all."
Hawthorn kicks off its premiership defence with a grand final rematch against Geelong at the MCG on March 27.
