The Hurricanes expect to see Dane Coles back out on the field at some stage in the Super Rugby season, but exactly when is anyone's guess.
Coles has been sidelined with a calf injury since mid-March, and is set to miss his sixth straight match when the Hurricanes host the Rebels on Saturday evening.
It isn't an unfamiliar situation for Coles who has spent plenty of time nursing injuries in recent years, and in the hope of getting him back on the paddock, Hurricanes coach John Plumtree said the club was taking a different approach.
"I'm putting absolutely no pressure on Colesy, and I don't want him putting pressure on himself," Plumtree said.
"Holding him back's not easy, trust me. He's the type of character that just wants to get going. He's pretty frustrated and annoyed, but we've been through that now. It's just a case of 'if we see you in a couple of weeks great, if we see you in three weeks great, if we see you in a month, great'. We definitely want to see him again and we will, but we want to make sure there's no time limit on it.