INJURED Hawthorn defender Stephen Gilham says words of advice from teammate Max Bailey provided a welcome boost in the early stages of his recovery from a knee reconstruction.

Gilham ruptured his ACL in the Hawks' win over St Kilda in round eight and had surgery a week later, with an eye to returning in time for the first day of pre-season training.

As he began on the lonely road back to full health, the 26-year-old turned to Bailey, who has undergone three knee reconstructions in his unlucky four-year career.

The ruckman's message was straightforward: don't rush.

"You go from being a pretty bullet-proof elite athlete to being reduced to, in my case, not being able to walk around and do a lot of things for myself," Gilham told hawthornfc.com.au on Thursday.

"Max Bailey has been in the same position as me before and I've had a good chat to him.

"He's said, the more you rest it and the more patient you are, the better it'll be for you in the long run.

"That was good to hear, because I was worried that I wasn't able to do a lot in those first two or three weeks."

Gilham spent the first three weeks after his surgery "between the bed and the couch" at home, icing the knee and resting.

It was an isolating and challenging experience for someone used to being active and surrounded by mates in the football club environment.

"You're around the boys for a lot of every day and then suddenly you're on your own and not around them much," Gilham said.

"They were good in terms of coming to see me in hospital when I was in there and coming around to home as well, but it's just not the same.

"Because of the pain and the irregular hours of sleep and that sort of thing, you're up at night thinking about things, and then you get into a weird routine.

"You're spending a lot of time by yourself, so you just try and take your mind off it by doing other things."

Now five weeks on from the operation, Gilham has regained enough mobility to spend more time at the club, and has resumed upper body weights alongside his rehabilitation.

Within a fortnight he'll advance to the exercise bike and swimming pool, with a view to being back on the training track by late September in preparation for a full pre-season leading into 2012.

"I'll have to have a little bit of luck along the way with everything going pretty smoothly and no hiccups, but the rest of my knee was in really good nick, so if the ACL repairs strong like it should, then I should get a really good pre-season in," the 2008 premiership defender said.

In the meantime, Gilham is making the best of his unfortunate situation.

He's been able to devote more time to his two areas of study - a diploma of management and a personal training course, has done special comments on radio at Box Hill Hawks games, and has completed work experience at an advertising agency.

Clearly, Gilham isn't bereft of ideas for a career post-football.

He's also interested in coaching, and has started working with Hawks defensive coach Ross Smith and the club's remaining fit defenders.

"The coaching aspect definitely appeals to me down the track when I finish playing," Gilham said.

"If I can help the guys in any way, whether it be in meetings or going through vision, or assisting during the breaks in the games, I'm more than happy to stay involved that way."

On the rehab front, Hawthorn's string of serious injuries mean there's been no shortage of training partners.

Fellow knee victim Ben Stratton has been a regular, as has draftee Angus Litherland, who is recovering from foot surgery.

Key forward Jarryd Roughead has now joined the group as he takes his first small steps back from a ruptured Achilles tendon.

"Unfortunately the nature of footy is that you've always got a little group of injured players," Gilham said.

"We spur each other on and keep each other company in what can be a pretty lonely time, especially when the other boys are training or travel away to play a game."

A positive for Hawthorn to emerge from Gilham's bad luck has been the strong performance of several other defenders in his absence.

Young big men Ryan Schoenmakers and Jordan Lisle have stepped in to play key roles, and mature-age draftee Paul Puopolo has added toughness at ground level.

"Their development has been outstanding," Gilham said.

"And also to have guys like Grant Birchall and Tom Murphy stepping up and doing some really important roles for the side has been great too."

All going to plan, Hawks fans can look forward to seeing the No.27 back beside those players in the brown and gold in round one of 2012.

Mark Macgugan writes for hawthornfc.com.au and covers Hawthorn news for afl.com.au. Follow him on Twitter: @mmacgugan