Paddy McCartin will take no further part in the 2019 season, after St Kilda placed him on its inactive list due to his latest concussion.
McCartin suffered his eighth concussion of his career during the pre-season, and the Saints are taking no risks on the former number one draft pick.
Even if McCartin were free of symptoms tomorrow, he would require at least eight weeks of training to play again, according to St Kilda’s medical staff and footy boss Simon Lethlean.
Although the 23-year-old appears to be improving, Lethlean says the club doesn’t know when he will return.
“Paddy’s symptoms are slowly improving but while they still linger, we are unable to put a time-frame on his return,” Lethlean told saints.com.au.
“Given he isn’t able to train at a high intensity at present, being able to complete the necessary training to return to playing matches before the end of the season now appears unlikely.
“Once that occurs we will be in a position to put a more accurate time frame on his return to training this year and his program and plans for the 2019/20 pre-season.”
The Saints are now able to use a vacant list spot in Monday’s mid-season draft.
The club denied that McCartin would retire because of his injury.