NORM Smith Medal winner Bobby Hill was back at Collingwood training on Monday after a long absence for personal reasons.

Hill has been on leave since early January having also dealt with personal issues throughout 2025.

He made only made one AFL appearance in the final three months of last season, as a substitute, and was overlooked for Collingwood's finals campaign.

Having returned to Magpies headquarters late last week, the small forward joined in a training session on Monday for the first time since December as he eyes a return to the senior side.

Last month, Collingwood coach Craig McRae told AFL.com.au that he was preparing to be without Hill for at least the early rounds of the season.

"Bobby is not in the program but we are really comfortable he is getting to work on himself, and we are working through that," McRae said.

"I think it has been reported that we are preparing for life without Bobby and that might be the case in the early parts of the season, but we have hope that at some stage he will walk back into our building, and we will wrap our arms around him and support him to be the best version of himself.

"We haven't completely ruled him out, we have hope for Bobby."