Port Adelaide have written off Sam Powell-Pepper's season amid struggles in recovering from a knee reconstruction.
Powell-Pepper, who last featured in the AFL on July 5 last year, made his state league comeback a fortnight ago from a second case of an anterior cruciate ligament tear.
But the 28-year-old has now been put on ice until pre-season training.
"It's more the mental side of it, especially for Pep right now," Power coach Josh Carr told reporters on Friday.
"Everyone knows what Pep is like: he wants to be out there.
"But he wants at his best to do that and just doesn't feel quite right. And we totally get it."
The 158-gamer also had a knee reconstruction in 2024 - both knees have now undergone the same operation.
"We totally understand where it sits with him right now," Carr said.
"The middle of winter, the (state league) ovals aren't great, he hasn't done a pre-season in a while - so we have taken it out of his hands.
"We think the best thing for him is to get through the rest of this year and then attack the pre-season ... he's really comfortable with that."