Hawthorn footballer Jarryd Roughead says he is "all good to go" for 2017, even suggesting he could make a return in the pre-season competition.
After missing all of the 2016 season as he underwent treatment for a recurrence of melanoma, making any return to the field for the Hawks was Roughead's main objective, he said.
![Jarryd Roughead: Eyeing a return in the Hawthorn's pre-season campaign.](/web/20170112092938im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/t/5/5/9/6/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gtpuzw.png/1484172974179.jpg)
But such has been his progress, the 29-year-old suggested he could make it back before the regular season.
"I've been lucky enough that we're all good to go this year. So hopefully, in the coming weeks, we can maybe suit up for the NAB Cup," Roughead told the Hawks website.
"Wait and see for the footy season, but obviously to get back and playing among the boys is what you want to do."
Roughead was first sidelined with his condition in 2015 when he had a melanoma removed from his lip. He missed only two games and played in the Hawks' premiership team. However, his football career was put on hold indefinitely in May last year after the cancer was found to have returned.
A routine scan had found signs the cancer had returned in secondary locations. He was recovering from a PCL reconstruction at the time the second cancer was discovered.
Roughead underwent immunotherapy treatment and in December, he disclosed that the tumours had gone and he was permitted to return to full training and playing.
AAP