A recurring toe injury will keep Richmond "barometer" Jake King on the sidelines for at least a fortnight.
The small forward has suffered a flare-up of an existing injury, which has previously been operated on.
King struggled with the toe complaint while playing for Richmond's VFL team on Saturday.
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Asked on Channel Seven's Talking Footy if King would return to the seniors soon, Tigers coach Damien Hardwick replied: "Probably not in the short term, he's got a pretty significant toe injury at the moment.
"Look, I love Jake King as a player and what he brings to our footy club, and I probably pushed him a little bit to play before he was quite ready from a fitness point of view.
"I think he's a barometer of our footy club. Everything he does from a spirit, passion point of view is exactly how I want my players to play and look, he's come back sore.
"He tried to go on the weekend and it's pulled up sore again."
Hardwick denied King's injury is a stress fracture.
"No, it's just he's had this toe issue that he's had operated on about three times, so it's starting to become a bit chronic," he said.
"So we've just got to make sure we pull him back a little bit. Give him a bit of a mini pre-season, give him a spell first and then get him back on track.
"So he's probably about two to three weeks away."
King has played just the two AFL games this season, the most recent against the Western Bulldogs in round three when he suffered a quadricep injury.
