MELBOURNE star Clayton Oliver will miss another week due to his hamstring injury, ruled out of Sunday's clash against Greater Western Sydney.

Oliver has been sidelined since round 10 after injuring his hamstring, with an infected blister also hospitalising the 25-year-old.

Amid hopes the gun midfielder was nearing a return, the Dees confirmed on Monday that Oliver would miss round 16, listing him as 1-2 weeks away.

"Clayton had follow-up scans on his hamstring last week, those scans – in combination with some of our objective markers – have shown he's not quite ready to progress through the final stages of our return-to-play program," Demons GM AFL football performance Alan Richardson told Melbourne Media.

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"He's continuing to integrate into team training as we continue to build him through those final stages of his hamstring rehabilitation program."

Oliver's ongoing absence led to rumours on social media which suggested a secret illicit drug ban, but that has been strongly denied and the talk left coach Simon Goodwin furious.

Michael Hibberd has also been ruled out of the clash against the Giants due to a minor injury to his kidney.

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In some good news for the Dees, Tom McDonald has reintegrated into running following his ankle surgery.

Melbourne (9-5) remains well-placed to finish in the top four despite its loss to Geelong in round 15.