It's an inglorious end to a season that held so much promise for the 20-year-old who lit up the Demons' 2008 campaign when he announced his arrival with four goals in the club's first win that year against Fremantle.
Wonaeamirri played 18 games as a rookie in his debut season and was buoyed by an excellent pre-season that saw him reduce his skin folds dramatically.
But fate dealt him a blow in the form of a hamstring injury in the club's first match of the NAB Cup against Hawthorn in Tasmania.
Another hamstring setback followed and when a torn lateral meniscus in his knee required surgery just before the mid-year break it was the beginning of the end of his season.
"As soon as we get him up and going again there's a bit of swelling that comes back," Dean Bailey lamented on Wednesday.
"We've had three or four attempts to try and get him back, but it's got to a stage now that even if we get him back, he's missed so much football that playing him is … a greater risk than getting him ready for the pre-season.
"It would be nice to see him playing, there's no doubt about that … we haven't seen much of him which is disappointing for him, but it's disappointing for our fans as well.
"Last year he was, arguably, one of the most exciting things from a disappointing season."
Bailey admitted the nature of the injury and Wonaeamirri's repeated attempts to come back from it had made for a frustrating few months, but he remained optimistic of a full recovery given time.
"It's a matter of getting his loads to a level that prevent him from getting any swelling around his knee," he said.
"Every time we've got him up and going to about two or three weeks of training he's shown that once the loads get too high his knee reacts. It gets a bit of swelling and we've got to pull him back a week and then restart him again."
As for the man himself, Bailey heaped praise on Wonaeamirri who he said had battled bravely despite the many hurdles placed in front of him this year.
"His attitude has been first-class, so if there's any positive to come out of it at least that's something for him," he said.
"Aussie's obviously been disappointed that he can't play, but his work off the field in the gym and in cross-training has been terrific.
"His skin folds and weight have been maintained which is fantastic. He's working really hard, but he's as disappointed as probably most of our fans who all of a sudden had his number on their backs.
"Hopefully he'll be right come next year. I'd like to think that he'd be ready to go pre-season."
