MELBOURNE expects Jesse Hogan to play against Hawthorn on Sunday after spending last week away from the club following the death of his father, Tony. 

Demons coach Simon Goodwin said the 22-year-old was in relatively good spirits given the circumstances and would train on Thursday. 

Goodwin said the decision on whether to play would be left to Hogan but it was good to have the forward back and able to share some time with teammates.

"We've integrated him back into the footy club. [The plan] now will be get through main training with a view of playing this week and Jesse is keen to do that at this stage," Goodwin said.

Earlier, Demons skipper Nathan Jones echoed Goodwin's thoughts, saying he expected Hogan to play on Sunday.

The 2015 NAB AFL Rising Star didn't face Essendon last weekend as he visited Adelaide for the funeral and to spend time with his family.

"He's come into training and he was quite upbeat and it was awesome to see. It gave the players a real lift just to have him back around and just to see him smile," Jones said. 

"I'd expect him to play." 

The Demons snapped a run of three successive losses in the clash with the Bombers and enter the game against the Hawks at 3-3. 

Hogan was suspended for two matches earlier this season after a high hit on Carlton defender Sam Rowe. 

Jones said having Hogan back in the fold should help the forward deal with the loss of his father. 

"He's known for a while now that his old man had been pretty crook. Unfortunately that played out last week and to Jesse's credit, he's handled it as well as you'd expect in a situation like that," Jones said.

"It was awesome to see him back. He went quiet there for a bit and not too many boys had heard from him but (he) came back in the other day.

"I think that will be the best thing for him, particularly having gone through that and how old he is and living away from home as well, to get back amongst the players and the club, it's almost like your second family.

"To get back into the groove of things and try and move on, and still grieve as much as he needs, but try and get some normality back into his life. 

"I'm really confident that he'll run out this week and give us a really strong performance, and we'll continue to try to support him and get around him as much as we can in what's a pretty difficult time for him."