The 27-year-old will play his first game of the year against Carlton after overcoming the internal bleeding he sustained against West Coast in the NAB Cup semi final last month.
The Magpies currently have just Nathan Brown (knee) from last year's premiership team on the injury list and consequently face an embarrassment of riches at the selection table this week.
"You can see the guys who aren't playing at the moment," Maxwell said on Thursday.
"Leon [Davis], although he missed that first week crook, he didn't fit straight back in and I'm lucky enough that I'm going to be going back in.
"I don't know what role I'll be playing or where I'm going to be, but it's going to happen every week, we're going to have guys under the pump and everyone's got to make sure they keep performing."
Davis trained on Thursday alongside Brad Dick, Lachlan Keefe and Cameron Wood, who are also on the cusp of senior selection.
Premiership defender Tyson Goldsack trained with the VFL side ahead of the Pies' session at Gosch's Paddock.
Maxwell said he had been pleased with the backline's performance in his absence, which had been complemented by the return of a more mature Chris Tarrant from Fremantle.
"They've been very good and I think what we're also learning is Ben Reid is still a very young guy and learning to play back there," he said.
"Tarrant is still learning to play in the position, he's only been playing as a backman for a few years.
"We've had to try and knock out all that forward stuff, all that rubbish, out of him so he's come along well, and also learning to play our game plan.
"They've done very well but across the board, there's a lot of improvement still there."
Maxwell, who said he could have played last week but wanted to get another week of conditioning under his belt, faced a tough boxing session on Monday to test out his insides.
The outcome of the session was positive but the premiership captain remains likely to wear a protective guard against the Blues.
"I haven't spoken about it yet but I think the doctors will do something," he said.
He also said the injury had been hard to manage because he felt normal and had limited pain throughout the recovery.
"I knew there was something serious going on when they tell you to lay in bed for two weeks but you'll be right to go straight after that … otherwise the other way wasn't going to be good," he said.
"I had to make sure I did what I was told and the boys did the job in the first two weeks so I'm just looking forward to playing again.
"It's been a long pre-season for me, I haven't played a lot of footy, so I'm looking forward to getting back into it."
Nick Maxwell is a $257,000 defender in this year's Toyota AFL Dream Team competition.
