NRL: Slater nearing return to full contact training

Billy Slater of the Storm trains during a Melbourne Storm NRL training session. Photo / Getty Images

Melbourne veteran Billy Slater will take a major step in his highly-anticipated NRL comeback when he begins full contact work on his reconstructed shoulder next week.

Slater has been on the comeback trail since re-aggravating a shoulder issue in the opening game of the 2016 season that shut down his entire campaign.

The former Australian and Queensland star has played just eight games in two years.

However the Storm's football director Frank Ponissi told News Corp on Monday that the 33-year-old is set to return to full training, possibly in time for next week's camp in Geelong.

"He's in great nick so the next week or so he'll start some contact work," Ponissi said.

"He's not far away from getting into some full contact. We'll do it slowly, he's not going to go bull at a gate, but in the very near future he is going to start that."

Slater's return would be a massive boost for a Storm roster that has lost four regulars from the side that fell to Cronulla in last year's grand final, including Kiwi international Kevin Proctor.

Last year's No.1 Cameron Munster this week revealed he had been training at five-eighth, signalling Slater's likely comeback to the custodian role.

"A couple of other boys have been training there as well ... That six hasn't really been cemented yet. It'll depend on the trials and how well we go in the pre-season," Munster told Storm TV.

Melbourne kick off their pre-season at the Auckland Nines on February 4-5 before trial matches against the Warriors on the Sunshine Coast and Canterbury in Hobart.