TO SAY THE CLUB is ‘in good shape’ would be a pretty standard thing to say in January.

But fortunately, it rings true.

With just three players spending time in the rehab group since returning to Casey Fields and no long-term concerns, performance manager Darren Burgess is confident his side is in a strong position to attack the next two months of training.

“With a shortened pre-season, we put more emphasis on the work they did at home, and they’ve come back ready to go,” Burgess told Melbourne Media.

“The other incentive for the players was the more work they got in, the less running they had to do when they came back and the more footy they could do, and that’s how it’s played out.

“There’s about 40 percent less sessions this year than last year, so we’re certainly putting more emphasis on giving the coaches more time and allowing more conditioning in the drills rather than separately.”

Angus Brayshaw, Michael Hibberd and Harry Petty are the only Demons to have missed a main session in the first two weeks back, taking things a little slower with respective niggles.

“Gus is the main one,” Burgess said.

“He will start integrating back into training in two weeks, but he has been out for a reasonable amount of time.

“There’s been no setbacks or anything like that, that’s just how long his foot will take, so we expect him to be around the mark for the first practice match.”

Hibberd’s concern is on the minor end and won’t hold him back for too long.

“He rolled his ankle at training which reaggravated an old ankle injury,” Burgess said.

“He’s probably looking at the same sort of thing – rehab next week and then training the week after.

“So he’s a week away from reintegrating back into skills.”

As for Petty, he missed the entire 2020 campaign with a groin injury, so the club is simply being cautious with its treatment of the 21-year-old.

“He got really sick during the break and missed about seven days of training, so we’re just monitoring his loads,” Burgess said.

“We just have to be super careful with him.

“He’s back in training today, but he’ll be on a constantly modified training program.”

Melbourne is building nicely for its first clash of the Pre-Season Community Series, set to face Fremantle at Fremantle Oval on February 26.