CARLTON co-captain Sam Docherty was at training on Monday as the Blues ramped up their pre-season preparations.
Docherty underwent 12 weeks of chemotherapy after being diagnosed with testicular cancer for the second time in August.
The 28-year-old was back at the club two weeks ago, but was pictured in his training gear with a couple of footballs in his hand.
Meanwhile, reigning Coleman medallist Harry McKay believes he's just getting started as he prepares to play a key role in the Blues' latest bid to turn their fortunes around.
The 23-year-old claimed the leading goalkicker award with 58 goals in 19 games but conceded it left a hollow feeling, given Carlton's poor season that ultimately led to the sacking of former coach David Teague.
"I'm not too big on putting a limit or expectation on (myself) individually and as a team but the main thing is our team success," McKay said.
"Obviously it was a challenging year last year and as much as individually I had some good growth, I guess it was empty to a degree because we weren't playing good footy as a team.
"So my pure focus is on making sure we're playing really good footy as a team and that connection out in the forward line is really strong."
McKay had season-ending shoulder injury in August but said he now felt close to 100 per cent fit and had used the off-season to work on improving his game.
"(I'm) looking at all areas to get better: consistency and being bigger, stronger, faster, whatever it is," he said.
"I'm definitely always looking to get better and definitely not content after not too bad of a year.
"It was good growth but I think I'm just getting started."
Carlton's senior players were only due back at training on Monday but plenty joined earlier pre-season sessions with their younger teammates under new coach Michael Voss.
While delighting in Charlie Curnow starting pre-season as normal after two injury-ravaged years, McKay stressed the Blues were "staying away from" laying down expectations, such as a return to finals.
"Vossy's been big on establishing everyone on the same page, building a really strong culture and obviously, there's a new game plan and some system stuff that we're introducing," he said.
"But at the moment, we're just making sure everyone's connected, everyone's on the same page and we're all working hard together.
"Vossy's been really big on a clean slate, so not looking back too much into the past, (it's) day one and then making opinions from there.
"That's been really fresh, good for the group because there's no opinions from the past or anything like that, it's a clean slate.
"So guys that are training well and putting their hands up, will get rewarded and play and go from there. "
Josh Cripps - the younger brother of Patrick - and Tyreece Leiu are training with the Blues in a bid to win a rookie spot.