ALWYN Davey admits the lure of again playing with brother Aaron almost proved too much, with the Essendon livewire considering an end-of-season offer to leave Windy Hill to join Melbourne.

But the 24-year-old said Essendon had done nothing wrong in his two seasons and, with the bonds he'd forged in that time, decided to stay true to the club.

"Melbourne were pretty close [to getting me]," Davey told the Herald Sun.

"But my mind was still telling me to stay [at] Essendon. They're a good club, they look after all their players.

"I would've liked to have played with my brother but I thought, 'Stay here and see how we go in the next two years'.

"I did give it some thought because I probably won't play with my brother again, so I thought about that a real lot.

"And with three kids and a wife, it was a hard decision to make, but a right decision to stay at Essendon."

Davey spent most of 2008 on the sidelines after rupturing an anterior cruciate ligament against St Kilda in round five.

He has been restricted to just 19 matches in the red and black after breaking an arm last year, but has shown plenty already.

His x-factor in attack has Bombers fans and coach Matthew Knights salivating at the prospect of his return; Davey roving the feet of Matthew Lloyd, Scott Lucas and possibly Scott Gumbleton and Jay Neagle is an exciting thought.

However, he still realises the work to be done before he can think about playing his next game.

"I'm still taking it easy because of my knee but the club has got me into drills now so, hopefully, each week I'll get into the skills more," he said.

"I'm doing straight line (running and skills) and I just did a little bit of agility just then to see where my knee is at.

"You could say it was the first time I've done that and I was happy with how it felt."

Early signs suggest Davey will be back to his electrifying best, with doctors pleased with the left-footer's progress and a round one return the aim.

"They have told me to slow down a bit, I'm a bit hungry to get back into it," he said.

"But I am holding back. I don't want to stuff it up again and miss another whole year."