Cats coach Chris Scott is confident defender Zach Tuohy will be fit to play in the Cats opening home and away clash on March 22 against Collingwood.
Tuohy has been on a modified program across the pre-season due to a procedure on his knee. Tuohy is ramping up his running program with an eye to keep his streak of 138 consecutive games going.
"The intention for him is to play round one," Scott told AFL.com.au.
"He's played about a million games in a row now and I think that streak's pretty important to him.
"He's never let us down when he said he'd come up from injuries, but this one's a little bit more serious. I'm outlining his wishes, my view is whether it's round one or two it doesn't matter.
"It depends how he's running. We don't have a fixed mindset in that decision making.
"The pleasing sign at the moment is that, at least according to Zach, what he was feeling as the issue isn't there at the moment."
Midfielder Sam Menegola is also on track to put off-season surgery behind him and be fit for the start of the season.
"It's been a bit of a slow one but one thing in Sam's favour is that he's just an elite aerobic athlete," Scott said.
"We need to see how he moves, but some of the conditioning work he's done, and the numbers show, that leads us to believe he's in good shape.
"It just depends on how quickly he picks up the change of direction and footy stuff."
Ruckman Zac Smith and Ryan Abbott have also enjoyed continuity at training after both were hampered by back injuries during pre-season.
Meanwhile Nakia Cockatoo’s has suffered an interruption to his pre-season after experiencing adductor and hamstring tightness.
Scott said the Cats will continue to be cautious with the small forward following a history of setbacks.
"He had some adductor soreness, and he does have a slight issue that will keep him out of the indigenous camp which starts on Sunday," Cats coach Chris Scott told AFL.com.au.
"He's had such a cautious and thorough rehab from his knees, the procedure he had on his knee did involve some hamstring grafting.
"They're almost simultaneous rehabs, we need to be careful with his hamstring history as well.
"If you come down next week you'll see him moving pretty well.
"(It's) days, not weeks, but it's enough for him to miss the indigenous camp."
Fellow small forward Lachie Fogarty remains in the rehab group after being sent for hip surgery last week that will rule him out of round one.