Melbourne Storm Captain Cameron Smith says he won't rush his rehabilitation from ankle surgery in order to get back for Melbourne's Round 1 opener in 20 days.
"I'd love to be there (for Round 1)," Smith admitted on Tuesday at the launch of the Club's Melbourne Airport Storm Blitz.
"It was made fairly clear to me going into surgery that the medical staff and the coaches aren't going to rush me back."
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While Smith explained things have been tracking well since surgery, he was realistic at where he was at in his rehabilitation process.
"At this stage things are going quite well which is great," Smith said.
"There hasn't been any hiccups, we're on schedule at the moment but when I had surgery it was sort of planned for around our first home game which is Round 3 or maybe even the week after.
"I've done a couple of running sessions but nothing too hectic, I haven't trained with the team yet.
"I've just got to stay patient and wait for the green light from the medical staff to get out there."
Melbourne face Canterbury-Bankstown on Saturday at AAMI Park in the Club's final trial match of the 2015 pre-season (purchase tickets here). To kick off the 2015 NRL season, they will travel to St. George Illawarra to take on the Dragons on March 9.
