Young Hawk defender Jacob Koschitzke is six weeks along from shoulder surgery and at the point where he was originally slated for a return to the field. 

Koschitzke underwent surgery after injuring his AC joint in Hawthorn’s intraclub match in mid-February. 

But instead of visiting the physiotherapist to help with the final stages of his recovery, he is having to call in and essentially treat himself. 

"Most of my physio at the moment is over FaceTime and lots of phone call consultations," Koschitzke said.

"It's really only self-monitored stuff now, there is nothing really physical.

"So, you have to be really honest with the physios and tell them how you feel as well as being honest with yourself and not try to push it too hard given they're so limited with how they can help.

"There's a lot of baselines like how I'm feeling for the day, how I'm feeling post-run and post-gym and then from there it is more of a monitoring process - it's just taking action on anything and remembering there is no rush."

Entering his second season on Hawthorn's list, the 19-year-old said his recovery has had its obvious challenges but his tone is optimistic and upbeat.

"I am tracking pretty well now.

"I had a couple of little niggles with it and with the muscles just not quite responding but I'm back on the right track now.

"I'm ripping into my rehab now at home - I hadn't been doing too much upper body but now I'm able to use this time to catch it back up."

Koschitzke said his aerobic fitness is now "pretty much back to normal" with his priority now to get his strength back in the gym. 

"I didn't miss too many lower body strength sessions but I've lost a bit of meat on top so I've got to try and get a lot of that back on."

Having just started his first year of a Commerce degree at Deakin University, Koschitzke said he has been able to remain productive throughout this unique period.

"I'm pretty routine-orientated so each night I like to set out my plans for the next day.

"I've been trying to knock off a bit of university study as well as obviously doing all of my physical, football requirements before getting stuck into a few leisure activities - a bit of Netflix and I've been mucking around with a few puzzles as well.

"We obviously don't know when footy is going back so I guess it's just about putting a focus on things you can control."

As for any Netflix recommendations, the Murray Bushrangers product said he's just finished The Tiger King and would advise anyone that hasn't tuned in yet to give it a go. 

"I'm not normally not overly captivated by that sort of stuff but I just couldn't stop watching it - it just drew me in!"