MELBOURNE is set to welcome some key players back into the selection mix for Saturday’s match against West Coast Eagles.

Key forward Jesse Hogan (hamstring tightness) and defender Colin Garland (hand) will both be available for the match at TIO Stadium in Darwin.

Elite performance manager Dave Misson said the pair, along with midfielder Ben Newton, were among those returning from injury after the bye.

“We’ve got a few coming back this week,” Misson told Dee TV.

“Benny Newton missed a week with concussion but he’s trained pretty well so he’ll be available, as will Col Garland with his hand as will Jesse Hogan, who we rested last week.”

Misson said the bye had proven a good opportunity to rest Hogan.

“[Hogan] was showing a couple of signs – some hamstring tightness and some back tightness – so we just felt it was a good opportunity to give him a spell,” he said.

“So he’s been home for a few days and we’ll see him up in Darwin.”

Misson said the team would head up to Darwin a few days out from the match in order to acclimatise to the conditions.

“We’ll head up early and do a session at the ground [on Thursday] and try and acclimatise to the heat, which is a bit different to Melbourne’s winter,” he said.

“But we’re ready to go.”

Meanwhile, youngsters Dean Kent and Christian Salem and mature-aged rookie Aaron vandenBerg are all progressing towards their respective returns from hamstring injuries.

“Kenty’s going pretty well – he’s probably got about three weeks to go until he plays again but he’ll do some training next week,” Misson said.

“Vanders is probably two weeks again, he did some really fast running [this week] and like Kenty, he’ll probably do a bit of training next week.

“Christian’s probably three weeks [away] – he’s probably a session or two behind Vanders but he did his other [hamstring] in rehab so we’ll probably be a bit more cautious with him.”

While Sam Frost is still several weeks away from playing, Misson said the tall defender had reached a milestone in his recovery from injury.

“[Frost will] do his first running session outside tomorrow so that’s exciting for him but he’s still probably six weeks away, realistically,” he said.

Jack Trengove and Christian Petracca continue to make progress in their recovery from long-term injuries, while Cam Pedersen has returned to the club following his season-ending wrist surgery.

“Trenners[has] got an important scan on the 24^th of July which will really determine where we go from a running point of view,” Misson said.

“Christian Petracca’s been running now for a week or so and looking really good – he’s not showing any signs of a limp [and] he’s pulling up well from his running sessions.

“Cam Pedersen’s been back at the club the past couple of days.

“He had some pretty significant wrist surgery but he’s starting to do some off-legs conditioning.”