JARED Polec has been ruled out for the remainder of the 2015 season, despite passing another milestone with his rehabilitation this week.
Polec injured the navicular bone in his left foot early in the season and has not played since the Power's Round 5 Showdown win over the Adelaide Crows.
The good news for Polec is that, while his navicular has not healed sufficiently to enable him to return this year, it has shown clear progress.
He will resume running for the first time this week, according to Port Adelaide's head of high performance Darren Burgess.
“We’ve taken a very cautious approach with Jared and while we are confident the injury in healing we don’t believe he’ll be able make it back this year,” Burgess told portadelaidefc.com.au.
“It’s a load-bearing bone, so it’s going to be a slow process for Polly, but the good news for him is that we think it’s healing well.
“He’s had two scans in the last four weeks, which have shown that the bone’s healing well and he’s about ready to put some load to it and run - we’ll start that process this week.
“We will continue to take a “no risk” view of the management of Jared’s foot given his age and long-term value to the team.”