The Cat defender is still on modified training but he told the Sunday Herald Sun he believes the repaired knee feels better than it did during 2008.
"I had a good season last year and the clean-up was planned, so it feels better this year than it did last year," Harley said.
"It was quite an effort to get up and play all 25 games. I've been on a pretty conservative training program and I'm just building up the running.
"I don't really have a deadline as far as the NAB Cup goes. I'm just ticking all the boxes and preparing as best I can for the season."
Harley said the players were angry with last year's grand final loss and were looking to atone for it in 2009.
"We were hungry last year and we were hungry all year and we're hungry again. We've got a really experienced group and we're pretty angry with what happened. You can't really do anything about that until you can get out on the park and show your wares," Harley said.
