Melbourne Victory coach Ange Postecoglou said club captain Adrian Leijer was recovering well from a mixture of hip and groin complaints, ahead of their Hyundai A-League season opener in October.
The ex-Brisbane mentor said Leijer, 26, was getting more involved in physical activity with the squad, including a 20-minute stint in the Victory's recent friendly with Moreland Zebras.
But Postecoglou said it was a careful process to ease their big central defender back into playing a full 90 minutes.
"He hasn't really missed a session since last Tuesday we played, so he's building slowly," Postecoglou said of Leijer.
"The plan is hopefully get him some game time, maybe in the next couple of A-League friendlies we've got, hopefully he gets through that and we'll see where we go from there."
Victory are facing the Central Coast Mariners in one of those friendlies this weekend, and Postecoglou said it would be another opportunity for his charges to continue to ingest his aggressive game plan.
The two-time premiership winner at the Roar, Postecoglou was barking his mantra of playing the 'angles' at training on Tuesday, but at this point in their pre-season, he was aware his players were still learning his style.
"I think within the whole group of the boys that have been retained, there's been a real appetite and a wanting to learn, because we're doing things differently than what they've been done in the past. From that point of view, that's what I've been looking for," Postecoglou said.
"Because if there's any resistance there (from the players to the game style), it's not good for them and it's not good for us.
"From day one, they've really embraced the fact we're creating an environment, a new way of training, and I'm really happy with the way they've gone along generally as a group.
"There's no point me looking at individuals right now, we'll look at that when the season starts, but right now, it's about the collective."
On the Hyundai A-League's coup signing, Alessandro Del Piero to Sydney FC, Postecoglou said it was nothing but positive news for the development of Australian football.
"(It's) absolutely fantastic. It astounds me that people still look for negatives, there couldn't be a better signing. He's a class act on and, more importantly, off the field," Postecoglou said.
"I think sometimes we get it wrong. We go for people who can maybe produce on the field, but off the field, they aren't prepared to embrace our football and our country and our culture. I've got no doubt he'll do that, hats off to Sydney in terms of that."
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