JARED Polec will spend approximately two months away from the playing field after further scans identified a stress response to the navicular bone in his foot.

Polec’s left foot has been managed for the last three weeks, and he was played as the Power’s substitute in Sunday’s Showdown win over the Crows, but the club has now decided to take him off his legs for around six weeks.

From there he will need to pass through around a month of training before he’d be able to return to AFL football.

“We identified a stress response in his foot, so we think it’s best to now take him off his legs for 5-6 weeks,” the Power’s head of high performance Darren Burgess told portadelaidefc.com.au.

“We’ll then see how that responds and hopefully he’ll be able to return sometime after that.”

The decision to place Polec on the long term injury list is one that has the long term interests of the 22-year-old at heart.

Polec is pencilled in as a player with a “big future” at Alberton so an extensive rehabilitation is in his best interests, and will hopefully avoid the risk of further injury, according to Burgess.

“We’ve managed him through the last three weeks pretty well, and we think we could have got him through this season with a pretty aggressive week-to-week approach,” Burgess said.

“But that wouldn’t be in ‘Polly’s’ long term interests and we have a duty of care to put our players’ health before the immediate needs of the club.

“This is consistent with our philosophy toward player injuries. We will take a long-term view of the management of Jared’s foot given his age and value to the team.

“We have sought numerous opinion both locally and internationally and we feel this is the best course of action for Jared and the club.”

Port Adelaide will submit paperwork to the AFL to add Polec to its long term injury list this week, no replacement from the club’s rookie list will be made at this stage.