Hawthorn recruit Tom Scully and defender Grant Birchall took a step in their rehabilitation on Thursday as they progressed their involvement with the main group at Waverley Park.
It is the latest encouraging sign for the Hawthorn pair, who have graduated from lap and agility running in recent weeks.
Ex-Giant Scully (ankle), who turns 28 in May, joined the ball program inside the past three weeks, while Birchall (knee), 31, moved into the skills component of training a fortnight ago.
Scully arrived at the Hawks in the 2018 NAB AFL Trade Period, after fracturing the fibula in his right ankle in round two last year.
However, since the turn of the new year, Scully has been making promising progress.
Birchall last played in round 15, 2017, but has endured multiple surgeries and setbacks each time he closed in on an on-field return.
Hawthorn's physical performance manager Luke Boyd tipped the four-time premiership player during the week to play "in the first half of the season".
Hawks assistant Darren Glass, the club's backline coach, confirmed on Friday morning that Scully and Birchall were involved in match simulation.
"There's no timeline yet on their return, but they've both been progressing well and they looked really sharp on the training track yesterday," Glass said.
The news was a welcome boost as Hawthorn flies out of Melbourne to play at their home away from home in Launceston against Richmond in both clubs' final JLT Community Series match.
The Hawks brought back 12 of their biggest names for the contest, including freshly named captain Ben Stratton, Isaac Smith, Luke Breust, Jarryd Roughead, Shaun Burgoyne and Jaeger O'Meara.
James Cousins, the man earmarked to step into Brownlow medallist Tom Mitchell's midfield void, kept his spot, but another impressive young onballer, Harry Jones, won't play.
"Last week was terrific (against Brisbane). We got an opportunity to expose a lot of our younger players," Glass said.
"But this week we're selecting a pretty strong team, as has Richmond, so both teams will be looking for a good performance and to take that form into round one."
Former West Coast champion Glass also gave a big tick to the impact the new rules, including the 6-6-6 starting positions, were already having on the sport.
"I think you'll see teams trying stuff throughout the JLT and we've been doing that as well," he said.
"The rule changes have been really good for the game, in the sense the aim of the rule changes was to reduce congestion.
"I think we've seen that and it's a really exciting time for the game and hopefully the fans enjoy it once the real stuff starts."
