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.

Magpies football department boss Charlie Gardiner is cautiously optimistic about Hill's return.

"He has expressed a desire to get back in and put his head down and work hard," Gardiner said.

"But, as I said, it (his progression) may not be linear.

"We will continue to support him and hopefully he can continue to keep taking steps forward."

Hill, who has been training at suburban grounds in recent weeks, did skills work for more than an hour on Monday, but did not take part in match simulation.

He impressed teammates as he showed off his trademark speed and kicking skills.

The Magpies expect the 26-year-old will need at least two months of serious training to push for a return to action.

"He has done a bit of training, but he's really just at the start line," Gardiner said.

"He'll have a big block of training ahead of him, but we'll be guided by our medical team and our high-performance team.

"As to timelines (for a senior recall), we don't have any timelines right now. We are all just thrilled he's happy.

"He's got a smile on his face. He's enjoying and has energy for training, which is excellent."

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."