In a welcome sight for teammates, the 23-year-old jogged laps of Simonds Stadium on Wednesday.
"He didn't complain of any pain or anything like that, so everything is going to plan there," club physio Mike Snelling told CatsTV.
But Motlop, who made the initial 40-man squad for last year's All Australian team after producing some dazzling displays in 2013, remains a number of weeks away from playing his first game for the season.
"He has to go through all the paces of running, then get back to training and get some conditioning under his belt because he hasn't had any pre-season," Snelling said.
The fit members of the Cats' squad head to Brisbane this weekend for a Sunday clash with the Lions at the Gabba.
Bounce-back Mackie to play 200th
In what will be a common occurrence this season, they will take on a former teammate, with Trent West, a member of Geelong's 2011 premiership team, now running around for the Lions.
"It's good for Westy to see him in the Lions' side," Cats veteran James Kelly told AFL.com.au.
"He's a pretty quiet guy, Westy, so we won't be getting into him too much. He's a good fella.
"But it's always strange seeing one of your former teammates for the first time in another team's jumper."
Another former Cat, two-time premiership defender Josh Hunt, plays his 200th game this weekend.
Kelly is delighted that Hunt has been able to prolong his career by moving to Greater Western Sydney.
"He's another one of those guys who's just a really good bloke, and he's one person we really miss around the place," he said.
"It's a fantastic thing for him and his family to go up there and get his 200th game, and hopefully we see him back down here at some stage."
Paul Chapman's brilliant four-goal debut for Essendon last weekend has also generated plenty of talk down at Simonds Stadium.
"It was good to see him kick some goals," Kelly said.
"He's obviously really happy there, and we're happy for him that he can play some footy.
"So I think in the end the right decision was made for the sake of both clubs."
Twitter: @AFL_AdamMcNicol
In what will be a common occurrence this season, they will take on a former teammate, with Trent West, a member of Geelong's 2011 premiership team, now running around for the Lions.
"It's good for Westy to see him in the Lions' side," Cats veteran James Kelly told AFL.com.au.
"He's a pretty quiet guy, Westy, so we won't be getting into him too much. He's a good fella.
"But it's always strange seeing one of your former teammates for the first time in another team's jumper."
Another former Cat, two-time premiership defender Josh Hunt, plays his 200th game this weekend.
Kelly is delighted that Hunt has been able to prolong his career by moving to Greater Western Sydney.
"He's another one of those guys who's just a really good bloke, and he's one person we really miss around the place," he said.
"It's a fantastic thing for him and his family to go up there and get his 200th game, and hopefully we see him back down here at some stage."
Paul Chapman's brilliant four-goal debut for Essendon last weekend has also generated plenty of talk down at Simonds Stadium.
"It was good to see him kick some goals," Kelly said.
"He's obviously really happy there, and we're happy for him that he can play some footy.
"So I think in the end the right decision was made for the sake of both clubs."
Twitter: @AFL_AdamMcNicol
