INJURED Collingwood star Adam Treloar is ahead of schedule in his return from hamstring surgery and is targeting a return before the home and away season ends, while Tyson Goldsack is a chance to also play again this year.
Treloar damaged the tendon in his left hamstring and went under the knife for that, while he strained the muscle on his right side, in the final quarter of the Magpies' win over Carlton in round 14.
"Fooksy (club physiotherapist Lachlan Fooks) has planned my schedule for the next six weeks," Treloar told a podcast on collingwoodfc.com.au.
"I'm already doing stuff that he thought I wouldn't be able to do … he thought I was still going to be struggling walking a week post-surgery, but I'm walking fine.
"I can bridge, I can body-weight squat and I can hammy curl on my left side, which is my bad side.
"It’s about diligent and trying to get back."
The 25-year-old hasn't played a final in his 135-game career but with the Magpies sitting in second spot as of Saturday morning, he expects that will change.
"I know if I stay on top of everything, I'll be back," Treloar said.
"I believe in myself.
"I'll be back in time for finals and hopefully sneak a couple of games in at the end."
Meanwhile, skipper Scott Pendlebury says recovering defender Goldsack will "absolutely" play again this season despite undergoing a knee construction just four months ago.
Goldsack tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee in the club's final pre-season game against the Western Bulldogs.
It is an injury that typically takes up to a year to rehabilitate.
With his contract expiring at season's end and his 31st birthday in May, there seemed to be little hope of the versatile premiership player going on beyond 2018.
However, with backman Lynden Dunn having required his own knee reconstruction, there's a spot available and when asked on radio station Triple M whether Goldsack would return this season, Pendlebury was definitive.
"Absolutely," Pendlebury said.
The skipper was impressed by what Goldsack did on Friday.
"He did a fair bit of main training, which is a really good sign," Pendlebury said.
"Then he stayed out on the track afterwards, did some more running, built up his conditioning.
"It was probably that moment for me, as a player, that you sort of think 'Hold on, this is actually possible', because he's out here moving, he's cutting. He's not just in the gym lifting weights. He's now doing football function, which was great to see."
A stint overseas helped convince Goldsack to pursue a remarkably quick recovery.
"It was unbelievable, because he went on a little getaway to Europe, just for a couple of weeks, to clear the head and realise that when he gets back, he's going to have a fair dinkum crack at this," Pendlebury said.
"He trained yesterday and I remember just seeing him in the warm-up and just thinking 'Oh, he'll jump off to the side and just do some straight-line running'. He was in the handball game, he was cutting, he was moving."
