If Ben Jacobs had a choice, he'd be like a bull at a gate with respect to his long-awaited return to training this week, but instead the reins have been somewhat pulled on the 26-year-old's comeback bid.

The midfielder, who has battled a troublesome footy injury for much of the past two years, has finally parted ways with the rehab group he became all too familiar with, but the club's medical team is still being cautious with his training loads.

“As a player you never want to be pulling yourself back, so you really rely on them to be looking at the numbers and stuff,” Jacobs told North Media.

“At the end of the day, they get the final say."

Jacobs was joined by North captain, Jack Ziebell and defender, Marley Williams, with the trio integrating back into the main group on Monday.

“It was a bit weird, but we were all pretty excited to get out there, and all the boys welcomed us back nicely,” Jacobs said.

The left-footer said his involvement in each training session depends on how he pulls up from the previous one, and his time on the park can change from day-to-day.

“I’ll do all the sessions, how much of each I don’t know yet. It depends on the loads and all that,” Jacobs said.

“I wanted to do the whole session today [Wednesday], but they pulled me out before the last drill and promised me I could do some gameplay on Friday, so we kind of met in the middle.”

Jacobs is now reaping the rewards since completing a large training block over the Christmas break, and believes the extra work will hold him in good stead.

“We had a fairly big block over the Christmas break to get through, and everything went smoothly,” Jacobs said.

“It’s been a while, but it’s been a good build-up so it feels like I’m really ready for it this time.”

With the JLT Community Series and Round 1 around the corner, Jacobs can finally see the light at the end of a once long and dark tunnel.

“Coming up to that five week mark until that first JLT and then nine weeks until Round 1, it’s all set out nicely,” he added.

Between now and then however, it’s all about getting back to basics and finding his feet again.

“I’m just trying to get a feel for the gameplay, and take a few knocks,” Jacobs said.

“I’ll try and squeeze in a bit of extra stuff after training as well, but just getting a bit of body contact again is important.”