INJURY-plagued Richmond veteran Dion Prestia will miss the early rounds of the season due to an Achilles issue.

The injury flared up at training last week and will rule the midfielder out of the start of the season.

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Prestia has had a horror run of injuries in recent years and played just 13 games in 2024 due to soft-tissue issues.

"Unfortunately, Dion has an Achilles issue that will require a rehabilitation phase over the coming weeks," Tigers high performance boss Ben Serpell said.

"Dion has completed a solid amount of work across the pre-season up to this point and got himself into excellent condition.

"However, we will now need to take some time to focus on getting his Achilles right, which will likely rule him out for the early rounds of the season."

Tigers coach Adem Yze told AFL.com.au earlier this month the Tigers had to be "smarter" when managing Prestia after conceding the club erred in playing him in both of the first two games of the season, which saw him break down again. 

"We need to get smarter. Dion is such a diligent worker. His running numbers and the way he works, he is so meticulous with how he looks after and prepares his body, he doesn't need to be there training every minute of the day," Yze explained.

"We made a mistake last with Dion going off a five-day break from Opening Round. He was adamant he was right to play. We ended up pulling the wrong lever and played him. He has obviously missed a few games. You see him in the back end of the season how important he is to us. He is an extra coach out there for us. He will be a coach when he finishes playing, he is such a student of the game. We need him out there and hopefully we've got a program in place that allows him to play the majority of the season."