Cats coach Chris Scott has returned to the helm after the club granted him compassionate leave following the death of his younger brother Ben in November.
The 37-year-old died on 23 November from anaphylactic shock due to an unusual nut allergy.
Cats midfielder Scott Selwood said everyone at the club was thrilled with their coach’s return.
“It just shows the class of the footy club when you give people like that the time off that they need,” Selwood said.
“Scotty’s been brilliant since he’s been back, he’s been really lively and he’s coaching really well.”
Powerful forward Tom Hawkins was also back in training on Tuesday for the first time since undergoing off-season knee surgery.
Hawkins went under the knife in October to have a piece of his meniscus trimmed after suffering a small tear during the 2016 season.
“Tom’s going well and he joined back in with the group this week, so he’s pretty much in full training now,” Selwood said.
Hawkins trained lightly at Simonds Stadium as the Cats players honed their skills in front of fans at an open training session.
The one-hour session focused on giving players the chance to work on areas of their game they needed to improve.
The Cats face Hawthorn at University of Tasmania Stadium in Launceston in their opening JLT Community Series clash on 17 February.
Selwood was enjoying his first proper pre-season at Geelong after being limited by an ankle injury last year.
“We had a team meeting yesterday and we talked about there being only 30 days to go before we get our first real hit-out,” Selwood said.
“We’ve worked since the start of December on a lot of things but we won’t know how we’re going until we get into the games.”
The Cats lost key players Jimmy Bartel, Corey Enright and Josh Caddy last season but added defender Zach Tuohy from Carlton and tall forward Aaron Black from North Melbourne.
Selwood said it would be up to a new wave of Cats to set the tone heading into the 2017 season.
“There’s been quite a large turnover in the last three years so we’re just trying to stamp our own authority on what we want the Cats to be about and become like the Cats of old,” he said.
