LINCOLN McCarthy is on track to complete a remarkable comeback from knee surgery and be available for Brisbane before the end of the home and away season.

The out of contract 31-year-old ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament at training on March 5 and immediately set about his ambitious timeline.

The patella tendon that was grafted to complete the surgery gave McCarthy a chance to pursue a more aggressive timeline for return.

And it's so far, so good for the dynamic half-forward.

While it hasn't been an absolutely perfect recovery to date, McCarthy is hopeful of being available to play VFL by the middle of August, if there are no further hiccups.

McCarthy is treading a similar path to that of Carlton's Sam Docherty last year, after he ruptured an ACL in Opening Round and played again in an elimination final six months later.
 
After missing out on Brisbane's 2024 premiership due to the first of his two knee reconstructions, McCarthy hopes to at least have his name in the reckoning should the Lions make another push for a flag in September.

"If he can get back and play, that would be amazing. But it is more about being there and making sure the team has some depth and coverage in case something goes wrong," McCarthy's manager Tim Lawrence told AFL.com.au in May.

"So that meant speeding it up and not going the traditional way, because we know that's 10-12 months. So how do we do this quickly?

"There's no magic wand or thing that we hadn't heard of, it's just being aggressive and pushing as quick as we can."

McCarthy has started light agility work and visited his surgeon in Melbourne last week for a check-in.

Despite some swelling around the knee, he was given the all-clear to continue working with Brisbane's medical staff and progressing his workload.

Brisbane's final home and away match in the VFL is on August 17, giving McCarthy just under eight weeks to make a return at that level before possibly playing a role with the senior side.