LUKE Darcy yesterday brushed off a training slip at Whitten Oval that briefly revived fears for his right knee, on which has endured consecutive reconstructions the past two years.

Darcy slipped as he moved off during a ball-handling drill. He landed on his hands and did not place weight on his right knee as he pushed himself up. He then rolled over and stretched his right leg before gingerly resuming his feet. After a few tentative moments, he completed the session, including drills on the marking bag and contesting work with fellow ruckman Peter Street.

The Bulldogs big man returned in round one having missed two seasons with serious knee injuries.

"(It was) nothing at all, no problems — I trained the whole session," Darcy said after training.

Coincidentally, Darcy and Robert Murphy, also a knee reconstruction patient last season, made their most significant contributions since returning in last Friday night's win over Richmond at the MCG. Each kicked four goals — Darcy's three in the first quarter helping set the game up and Murphy's two in the last helping quell a possible Tiger comeback.

Perhaps not so coincidentally, coach Rodney Eade observed last week that the pair were struggling for form and confidence and perhaps expectations on them were unreasonably high.

Eade said before training yesterday that the positive performances would boost the pair. "The side has obviously benefited from it (their performance), and I think that's great for Luke," Eade said on the club's website. "Early in the game he was able to break the game open and I think that gives him a fair bit of confidence.

"He's still probably not as advanced as Robert, more the fact he's been out for a bit longer and being a taller player, but Robert also showed some great signs and I don't think he's going to be far off back to his best."

The Bulldogs hope to get back another of the five who had knee reconstructions last year in the coming weeks. Mitch Hahn has had two games with the Bulldogs' VFL affiliate Werribee, one in the reserves and one at senior level.

"He's probably ahead of where we thought he would be," Eade said. "I suppose it's a balancing act with Robert and Luke as well, to bring another knee-injured player back in. When is the right time?

"He might be two or three weeks, but hopefully it's only that amount of time."

Jason Akermanis (hamstring), Sam Power (hamstring) and Daniel Cross (adductor) are all pushing up for this Sunday's game against Hawthorn.

Eade said that Akermanis, who has missed two games, would "play this week, touch wood nothing happens during the week".