Butcher, 18, played in an intra-club match earlier this month, but watched from the sidelines as fellow 2009 draftees Andrew Moore and Jasper Pittard featured in the NAB Cup opener against Adelaide.
The 197cm forward developed stress fractures in his back as a junior and there were fears he'd suffered a similar injury when he complained of soreness two weeks ago.
Scans cleared him of serious damage, but club football operations manager Peter Rohde said Butcher would be kept out of training for two to three weeks.
"John had back problems a couple of years ago. When we brought him here we put him on a program to keep the strength in his back, but being a long, tall, thin bloke he's going to be prone to back soreness until we strengthen him up," Rohde told afl.com.au.
"He's had all the tests done and the injury is nothing major. There's no fracture there but he's getting some soreness, so it's a warning sign that he needs to ease back. We'll have to build him up and condition him quite slowly."
Butcher is seen as a long-term replacement for four-time All-Australian Warren Tredrea, who is now 31, but Rohde said it was disappointing that fans wouldn't get to see the teenager play in the short-term.
"We probably would have liked to have played John in the NAB Cup somewhere along the line," he said.
"We like to give our draftees a chance but we've got a lot of tall key forwards so we still would have had to find a spot for him."
