Melbourne have officially ruled Jesse Hogan out of the Queen’s Birthday clash against Collingwood, but the star forward is close to a return to full training after his cancer scare.

Hogan hasn’t played since round seven after he was diagnosed with testicular cancer and underwent surgery.

“He’s not that far away but he’s now got to get some training into him; we’ll assess him week by week,” Demons coach Simon Goodwin told reporters on Thursday.