MELBOURNE captain Nathan Jones expects grieving forward Jesse Hogan to face Hawthorn on Sunday afternoon at the MCG. 

Hogan, 22, returned to training on Tuesday after being granted compassionate leave following the death of his father Tony, who had a long battle with cancer.

The 2015 NAB AFL Rising Star didn't play against Essendon last Sunday as he went to Adelaide for the funeral and to spend time with his family.

Jones told Melbourne radio station SEN on Thursday morning Hogan would likely face the Hawks.

"He's come into training and he was quite upbeat and it was awesome to see. It gave the players a real lift just to have him back around and just to see him smile," Jones said.

"I'd expect him to play."

The Demons snapped a run of three successive losses in the clash with the Bombers and enter the game against the Hawks at 3-3.

Hogan was suspended for a couple of matches earlier this season after a high hit on Carlton defender Sam Rowe.

The Dees skipper said having Hogan back in the fold should help Hogan deal with the loss of his father.

"He's known for a while now that his old man had been pretty crook. Unfortunately that played out last week and to Jesse's credit, he's handled it as well as you'd expect in a situation like that," Jones said.

"It was awesome to see him back. He went quiet there for a bit and not too many boys had heard from him but (he) came back in the other day.

"I think that will be the best thing for him, particularly having gone through that and how old he is and living away from home as well, to get back amongst the players and the club, it's almost like your second family. To get back into the groove of things and try and move on, and still grieve as much as he needs, but try and get some normality back into his life.

"I'm really confident that he'll run out this week and give us a really strong performance, and we'll continue to try to support him and get around him as much as we can in what's a pretty difficult time for him."