HAWTHORN midfielder Alex Woodward is moving closer towards a long-awaited return to football.

Woodward has been sidelined since mid-2015, when he underwent a third knee reconstruction, after sustaining an injury in a match at VFL level.

But after a lengthy recovery period, GM – Football Operations Chris Fagan believes Woodward’s return is not far away.

“He’s going well,” Fagan said.

“(It’s been) nearly 10 months ago now since he did that knee injury at Coburg City Oval.

“He’s been beavering away, getting stronger in the gym every day. He’s back into skill work and he’s not too far away from playing actually."

Woodward has been listed as four to five weeks away in this week's Bupa Recovery Report.

The 22-year-old midfielder was in prolific form at VFL level before the latest knee injury.

He won the JJ Liston Trophy for the VFL’s best and fairest player after an outstanding 2014 for Box Hill Hawks – which earned him two matches at AFL level – and carried that form into the early stages of 2015, where he was averaging 27 disposals per game.

Woodward was rookie-listed by the Hawks at the end of 2015, and Fagan hopes the ball-winner’s luck with injury is about to change.

“He just wants everyone to know that he isn’t far away,” Fagan said.

“That’s exciting for us because he’s had a tremendous amount of bad luck, and all we can hope for is that discontinues and that he can play a really strong role for Box Hill and hopefully force his way back onto our senior list.”