Collingwood football manager Geoff Walsh said after overcoming the back complaint that had kept him sidelined for most of the summer, Medhurst had recently injured a foot.
An All-Australian last season as well as being runner-up in the Copeland Trophy, the 27-year-old had been pushing the boundaries in the hope of returning to the training track as soon as possible.
However he pulled up sore following training and was remaining on a modified program.
“He had a back problem and now he’s pulled up a little bit sore in his foot,” Walsh said.
“He probably tried to do a little bit too much, too soon but we’d expect Paul would be up and going and available to play in the last couple of weeks of the NAB series.
“We’d hope he’d get the last couple of weeks in and he’d be available.”
Walsh said the Magpies didn’t believe the injury was too serious.
“He’s just pulled up with a stress-type reaction,” he said.
“It’s nothing too serious but we’ve eased him back. We didn’t want to do anything that would over-tax him, given that he hadn’t done a lot of work previously because of the back (injury).”
Medhurst has rarely been sighted during recent sessions at Gosch’s Paddock, doing the large proportion of his work inside the Lexus Centre.
“He hasn’t done a great deal at training; he’s done a lot of cross-training and some rehab work,” Walsh said.
The Magpies played their first serious scratch match of the summer last Friday, with many of the club’s youngsters impressing during the 40-minute hit-out.
Medhurst ran on an adjacent oval early in the session before retreating indoors – where he has spent much of his pre-season.
“He’s out doing some restricted work; he’s just not joining the full program at the moment,” Walsh said.
