JOE DANIHER could be sidelined until the second half of the season, with Essendon revealing it hasn't placed a timeframe on the star forward's return from chronic groin issues.
The 25-year-old has only recently started light running and is pain-free but appears a considerable way off returning to full training, let alone playing.
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Daniher, who has played just 11 games in the past two seasons, most recently appearing in round nine last year, again sought treatment from a world-renowned specialist Dr Andy Franklyn-Miller in Ireland in January.
"Yeah, possibly (he could miss the first half of the year), but given it's been a couple of years, it's a hard one to gauge when he will be back into full training," Bombers football manager Dan Richardson told SEN on Wednesday.
"He's been doing a little bit more than jogging and stepping up to striding. As long as he continues to be pain-free and continues to progress, he may progress pretty quickly, but we're not going to put any time on it.
"What we want to do is make sure that when he does come back, his body is strong enough to support the rigours of the game."
Although the 104-gamer's future appeared clouded, Richardson believed he was "progressing in the right direction".
"Joe is going particularly well – the work that our medical team have done and the link with the people over in Ireland to keep progressing Joe in his rehab," he said.
"He's able to start building up to some running without pain and we're at the stage where he’s integrating into some running and how quickly that progresses is still a little bit of an unknown.
"Joe is quite positive at the moment in the way it is progressing and so are we in our medical team."
In October the frustrated 104-gamer was unsuccessful in his bid for a trade to Sydney for lifestyle reasons. He will be out of contract at season's end.
