Key Dee recruit won't be ready for round one

MELBOURNE has all but confirmed key recruit Kade Kolodjashnij won't be available for selection in round one as he continues to recover from a significant adductor injury.

The Demons will also be without high-flying forward Mitch Hannan for most of the first half of the season after he had a second arthroscope on his knee in January.

Kolodjashnij, who was traded from Gold Coast in the off-season, is likely to play his first game as a Melbourne-listed player for the Casey Demons in the VFL, elite performance manager Dave Misson told melbournefc.com.au.

"His injury was just a little bit more significant because he had some tendon damage to his adductor," Misson said.

"So we've purposely taken him a little slower. He'll probably play round one but it's more likely to be in the VFL."

Misson said Hannan's progress from dual surgeries on his knee had been deliberately slow.

"Hannan had another arthroscope to his knee in late January, just before we went to camp," Misson said.

"He's obviously taking a little bit longer. He should play before the bye but it will be in the middle of the first half of the season before we see him I'd say."

In better news, Steven May and Jake Melksham have made strong progress in their recoveries from hamstring injuries and are back in full training.

Co-captains Jack Viney (ankle) and Nathan Jones (hamstring) should also be ready to play in round one, despite a lack of match practice through the JLT Community Series.

"They are all back in full training," Misson said.

"So all of them will play some form of footy next week.

"With three and a half weeks to go until round one you'd like to think they'd be ready to go."

Star defender Jake Lever will return home from a trip to the US where he visited sports injury specialist Bill Knowles on Sunday.

Misson said Lever would look to join full training in the next month after rupturing the anterior cruciate ligament in his knee in round 11 last season.

Young draftee Aaron Nietschke underwent surgery on his torn ACL on Tuesday and will miss the rest of the 2019 season.