Exciting St Kilda young gun Jack Billings is making strong progress in his return from the persistent shin issues that restricted him to only nine games last year, prematurely ending his season after round ten.

The No.3 pick has had to be held back throughout the pre-season to date with high performance staff electing to take a cautious approach with Billings. But since the turn of the new year the prodigious talent has taken strides in his rehabilitation.

“He’s progressing pretty well with his shin. He missed most of last year with a stress fracture, but he’s coming back really well. He’s been partaking in all of the training, so we’re pretty happy with him,” St Kilda head physiotherapist Andrew Wallis told saints.com.au on Wednesday afternoon.

Off-season recruit Nathan Freeman still remains a work in progress, with the highly-rated midfield prospect continuing the rehabilitation program for his troublesome hamstrings.

Freeman arrived at Linen House Centre during last October’s trade period after two fruitless seasons at Collingwood that were plagued by persistent hamstring related injuries.

Wallis is confident the former top-ten draft pick will get on top of the frustrating issue soon and transition into full training with the main group in the coming weeks.

“We’re progressing slowly with Nathan. He’s had recurrent hamstrings over the journey, but is doing well at the moment,” Wallis said.

“He’s working with the strength and conditioning guys to get his speed and agility up.

“We imagine that he’ll be back in full training in several weeks and then the aim is to see how he progresses with that.”

Experienced midfielder Jarryn Geary is the only recent injury issue at St Kilda, after the 27-year-old strained his quad recently.

Wallis said that Geary would resume full training when the list returns after their four-day break, with the injury having no impact on his NAB Challenge series preparations.

“Our only real injury at the moment is Jarryn Geary. He strained a quad, but he is two weeks post injury, so he’s progressing really well,” he said.

“He goes back into full training next week. He’ll be available to play NAB – he really won’t be hindered at all.”