As the Bulldogs prepare to head to Mooloolaba this week for their annual training camp, the news is good for premiership captain Easton Wood who has returned to full training for the first time since undergoing off-season ankle surgery.

Wood told the Herald Sun in October that he feared his season was over after landing awkwardly against Essendon in round 22, last season.

“I’d jumped and landed and my ankle just rolled inward,” Wood said.

“I thought I was in serious, serious strife as soon as it happened.”

He had another scare against the Eagles during the elimination final in Perth, but an intensive rehabilitation campaign ensured that he was holding the Cup aloft when the Bulldogs triumphed over the Sydney Swans on Grand Final day.

Three months later Wood has hit the track without restriction for the first time since September.

“[Last Tuesday] was my first crack at having completely unmodified training so that was a good milestone… it was good not to have to come off early or do extras on the side or that kind of thing, he told westernbulldogs.com.au.

“[I’m] tracking really well, what are we, Feb 18 until the first JLT Cup, so I’ll have three or four weeks of good prep and be really ready to run by then.”

While Wood said that the upcoming trip north is a good chance to break the monotony of the pre-season, with temperatures not expected to dip below 30, he knows it won’t be easy.

“At this point in the pre-season they are our biggest sessions in load and in speed and that kind of stuff and it’s a big jump, but when we come back from we really feel like we get momentum off of that into our pre-season games.”

The Bulldogs take on Melbourne at Victoria University Whitten Oval on Saturday, February 18 in the first game of the JLT Community Series preseason competition.