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The West Australian Fremantle coach Ross Lyon has conceded star wingman Stephen Hill will miss at least the first fortnight of the AFL season as he works his way back from a quad injury.

Hill underwent surgery in December to clean up scar tissue on his troublesome quadriceps. In an interview with the AFL website, Lyon said the Dockers were aiming to have Hill available to

return for the club’s round three clash against St Kilda. "Stephen Hill ran into that quad trouble early in the pre-season and went in and had the operation to remove the scar tissue.

It was pretty significant and pretty rare," Lyon said. "So I'm a bit nervous about that for our midfield because it's the area where we lost Lachie Neale. "Stephen

won't be back until about round three, which really does hurt us." Hill’s absence across the opening rounds will be compounded by the loss of Connor Blakely, who is sidelined with

a hamstring injury. Lyon also said star forward recruit Jesse Hogan was back to 50 per cent of full training as he eyes a comeback from a navicular injury. The Melbourne recruit missed the

back end of last season due to the setback. Injury-plagued midfielder Harley Bennell is also progressing solidly as he looks to add to his two appearances in the past three seasons at

Fremantle. "I wasn't at a session on a Friday and Peter Bell rang me and they were all raving about how he trained,” Lyon said. “So it was exciting for Harley and us, but

there's plenty of work to go.” GET THE LATEST NEWS FROM THEWEST.COM.AU IN YOUR INBOX. Sign up for our emails