Key forward Riley Thilthorpe is back in the gym as part of his rehabilitation following knee surgery last week.

The 21-year-old is expected to return in the second half of the season after suffering a torn meniscus in a pre-season game against West Coast.

“Riley had successful surgery on his meniscus and has already been around the Club working on his upper body weights, as you can imagine he’s a very diligent trainer so he and the strength coaches are excited about what they can do with him over this next little period,” High Performance Manager Darren Burgess said.

“He’s in a (leg) brace for a little while and we’re expecting he will return around that 12-week mark.

“He hasn’t missed a session (over pre-season) so the body of work that he’s done is going to be really important to him.

“It’s been his best pre-season by some margin so hopefully he will be able to capitalise on that once he gets up and about.

“We fully expect him to play some important footy for us in the back half of the year, he will be like a fresh recruit for us at that time of the year.”

Midfielder Rory Sloane is trialling goggles as he ramps up his return to full training after surgery on a detached retina.

Sloane continues to consult with eye specialists ahead of a possible return to contact training in coming weeks.

“Sloaney has been involved in most of training over the last couple of weeks, he’s been trialling some goggles and in constant communication with eye specialists,” Burgess said.

“Essentially we are waiting on another conversation with an eye specialist this week and that will dictate where Sloaney goes from here.”

Fellow on-baller Harry Schoenberg and key defender Nick Murray are making pleasing progress in their return from their respective surgeries last year.

“We are waiting on surgeon clearance for Nick to be involved in contact training, hopefully that will come in the next two weeks, and from there it’s probably another eight weeks or so until he’s involved in some minutes,” Burgess said.

INJURY LIST

(As of Tuesday, March 12):

Rory Sloane (eye) 1-3 weeks

Harry Schoenberg (Achilles) 6-8 weeks

Nick Murray (knee) 10-12 weeks

Riley Thilthorpe (knee) 12-14 weeks