Welsh has undergone an intensive rehabilitation period since a scan revealed the injury after an intra-club match in February, and the 28-year-old said he was excited to play in Essendon's affiliate side, Bendigo Bombers, in the VFL this weekend.
"I'm looking forward to getting back out there with a few of the boys and having a bit of a kick. I'm a little bit over doing all the training without playing," Welsh told afl.com.au.
"I've been doing a fair bit of fitness work, so I'll probably play three quarters. I was probably touch-and-go last week, but we thought we'd get another full week under the belt for training and then be right to come out and play this weekend," he said.
Welsh said the injury was picked up after he had undergone scans on his groin after pulling up sore from the intra-club match in the pre-season, and it had required conservative monitoring and treatment, including blood injections.
"I went and had a scan to make sure my groin was all fine and it picked up that I had an abdominal tear that the doctor hadn't seen before, and he has been in the caper for 30 years," Welsh said.
"With the injury that it was, we needed to tread carefully because I didn't want to do any more damage. The program that the fitness staff put together was perfect. It got me back a lot quicker than we probably thought at first."
Welsh, now entering his 10th season at AFL level since making his debut in 2002, has spent his recovery focusing on his core strength, and believes he has done enough fitness work to be able to step into a competitive hit-out. From there, he says, his return to the senior side will be in the hands of the coaches.
"We do a lot of match simulation training and contest work, and a lot of it is to prepare you to come back in and get on with it," he said.
"I'll just have to see what the coaches are after before I come back. I'll see how I pull up from the game and the amount of game time I play, and take it from there. I don't know if you can set a time on it, but hopefully I'll get my crack soon," Welsh said.
When he does return, Welsh foresees spending more time up forward than in previous seasons after working closely with forwards coach Brendan McCartney throughout the pre-season.
"One of my strengths is my ability to play forward, midfield or in the backline, and you need a couple of those kind of players in the team who, especially with the new substitute rule, can play any role if someone goes down with the limited bench," he said.
"I've been doing a lot of work up forward under Brendan McCartney, so that's probably a spot I'm looking forward to playing much more this year."
