FORMER Melbourne captain Jack Trengove has made encouraging progress as he slowly recovers from the foot injury that has put his career on hold.

As the Demons unveiled their new-look leadership group on Tuesday, coach Paul Roos praised Trengove for how he was dealing with a lengthy rehabilitation from a second bout of navicular bone surgery.

Trengove admitted after his most recent surgery in October that he might have to sacrifice this season.

A few weeks later he posted a photo on Twitter that showed the extent of the muscle wastage in his left lower leg because of the operation.

The Demons are not putting a time-frame on how long it might take for Trengove to return to playing.

"His latest scan was encouraging, but it's going to be softly, softly," Roos said.

"He's now off the crutches, still in the moonboot, but at least he's walking around.

"The next stage is have another scan, get the boot off and maybe put some weight on it.

"He's progressing, but we all know it's a slow process."

Roos added Trengove's attitude had been outstanding.

"I can't speak highly enough, he's been fantastic," Roos said.

"Once the season starts, we'll give him some coaching things to do and keep his mind active.

"He's a really smart player and a smart guy."

Nathan Jones will captain Melbourne this season, the first time Brad Green in 2011 that the Demons have not had co-captains.

Trengove and Jack Grimes led the team in 2012-13, then Jones and Grimes last year.

Trengove first went under the knife to fix his foot injury last April and only managed two games for the season.

Richmond was interested in trading for Trengove, but a medical check revealed the injury had not healed properly.

That meant more surgery and no move to the Tigers.