ESSENDON expects emerging midfield gun Jye Caldwell to be back into full training in February after the breakout Bomber's off-season hip surgery.

It will make for a condensed lead-up for Caldwell ahead of the club's Opening Round clash with Gold Coast on March 8, with the Bombers' campaign starting a week earlier in 2025.

Caldwell carried the hip issue in the back half of last season, but has resumed running and has his eyes set on the beginning of the club's season.

"He's tracking as expected. It was right at the end of August he had his surgery so it's three months since he's had it," Essendon football general manager Dan McPherson told AFL.com.au.

"He's back running, his strength has started to increase so he's ticking all those boxes off and he'll continue to build up until Christmas. He'll be back into training when we get back and probably won't be in full training unrestricted until the start of February. That's all on track."

The 24-year-old Caldwell had a career-best season in 2024, playing every game and taking his hardness, fierce pressure and smarts into the midfield to finish fifth in the best and fairest.

McPherson said the club's Opening Round appearance made for a tighter run for Caldwell but the expectation was that he would be ready to feature in the pre-season warm-up games.

"It puts a bit of a squeeze on it but the way he's tracking at the moment means he will be able to get a fair bit of work in building up. Christmas break is going to be important for him and without any hiccups we expect he'll be going flat out by the start of February. He should be around the mark by the time the practice games start," he said.

"He's running at the moment, his strength around that hip area has continued to increase as the program that the boys have put in front of him has been planned out, so that's increasing and he's able to manage increased running loads as well. So far he's on track to be back and ready for the start."

Caldwell is the most significant injury for the Bombers currently, with Andrew McGrath (wrist) back into full training and Kyle Langford (knee) on modified duties for another week after his off-season surgery. Jye Menzie, who had a shoulder reconstruction, remains out of full training until after the club's Christmas break.

Nik Cox and Ben McKay are also on managed loads at the moment before the training block ends on December 18.  

"[Cox] was going OK, he's just pulled up a little bit sore in the groin/hip area. It's nothing major but they've just pulled him back a little bit and he'll reintegrate over the next couple of weeks leading up to Christmas and the break is going to be really important for him to keep ticking over. We expect him to be going flat out when we come back after Christmas," McPherson said.  

"Ben McKay has had a little ankle irritation that's lingering a bit but he's been able to run, he's just not done the change of direction stuff at the minute. But again we expect him to be going flat stick when we get back in January."

The Bombers have made a concerted effort to get straight into their match-related drills upon returning to pre-season and are trialling veteran midfielder Dylan Shiel across half-back as they assess different options in their mix.

"We're having a look at a few different blokes in different areas. We'll certainly have a look at him across half-back, Zach's (Merrett) been training there a little bit as well, so we're not locking anything in but giving guys different looks. They both look pretty comfortable there," McPherson said.