MELBOURNE’S Jake Bowey is closing in on a return to football, seven weeks on from shoulder surgery.

The defender injured his shoulder during the club’s Opening Round clash and has been meticulously working through a rehab schedule following a successful surgery in March.

Melbourne’s High-Performance Manager, Selwyn Griffith, said that he was hopeful the Demon would be available for selection ahead of Round 9.

“Jake got the all-clear from the surgeon and has integrated into full contact training,” Griffith told Melbourne Media.

“We’ll look to have him full train on Wednesday with the team and then look for him to be available for the Carlton game next week.”

Christian Salem is not far off re-joining the main group, the defender currently in his third week of a rehab program for a hamstring injury.  

“Christian has been progressing really well,” Griffith said.

“He’s integrated into some sprint exposure now and so he’s into that phase of accumulating skill-based conditioning and getting him back into his game loads.

“He won’t be available for this weekend, but we’ll see him start to integrate into training with the team this week and next week."

Charlie Spargo is taking steps forward through his Achilles rehab, entering into football skills and conditioning.

“Charlie is going well and continuing to build his running volumes,” Griffith said.

“We’re now just looking at the next phase with him, which is starting to integrate him into more football-specific conditioning.

“We’ll get a better picture of how he’s tolerating that transition over the next week or two.”

The fourth and final Demon on the club’s AFL injury list is Jake Melksham (knee), who looks to be a couple weeks off returning to the main group, an exciting prospect for the forward who has spent an extended time on the sidelines.

“He’s integrated into 60% of training now,” Griffith said.

“He’ll stay in that phase for this current week and next week while we’re continuing to do some assessments with him.

“But we’re hoping over these next two weeks, he’ll get the green light to integrate into full training.

“Then we’ll look to give him a good block of full training before he’s available for selection.”

Check out the full injury list below.