Uncertainty surrounds when we could see Joe Daniher at AFL level in 2020 as he continues his rehabilitation from ongoing groin issues.

Essendon GM of Football Dan Richardson has admitted there’s a chance we don’t see him until the back half of the season.

“Yeah possibly (he could miss the first half of the year), but given it’s been a couple of years so it’s a hard one to gauge when he will be back into full training,” Richardson told SEN Breakfast when asked by Garry Lyon.

“He’s been doing a little bit more than jogging and stepping up to striding, as long as he continues to be pain-free and continues to progress, he may progress pretty quickly, but we’re not going to put any time on it.

“What we want to do is make sure that when he does come back his body is strong enough to support the rigours of the game.”

Despite the lack of a timeline, Richardson is confident Daniher is “progressing in the right direction”.

“Joe is going particularly well. The work that our medical team have done and the link with the people over in Ireland to keep progressing Joe in his rehab,” he said.

“He’s able to start building up to some running without pain and we’re at the stage where he’s integrating into some running and how quickly that progresses is still a little bit of an unknown.

“Joe is quite positive at the moment in the way it is progressing and so are we in our medical team.”

Garry Lyon believes Daniher only returning to running now means there's no chance we see him any time soon.

“If he’s only just started running in the last three or four days, as Richardson told us, then the first half of the year is not going to work," Lyon said.

“I think they should probably say that and take the pressure off.”