Demons forward Hogan still 2-3 weeks away

Gun Melbourne Demons forward Jesse Hogan says his highly anticipated AFL debut is still a few weeks away.

The 19-year-old is considered a key part of Melbourne’s revival under new coach Paul Roos, but he has been laid low by a back injury and won’t take the field in the club’s season opener against St Kilda on Saturday night.

But the 195cm giant says he’s hopeful of making his debut in either Round 3 or Round 4.

"It's coming along well," Hogan told Seven's Talking Footy.

"It's probably still two to three weeks, that's at best. But at the moment I still don't know. It's still very systematic.

"Hopefully sooner rather than later but there’s no real time frame. Hopefully around Round 3 or 4, but not too sure."

Meanwhile, Roos says he is likely to place Mitch Clark on the long-term injury list as the tall forward spends time away from the club for health reasons.

Clark completed a recovery from a long-term foot injury but the new Melbourne coach has sanctioned a period of indefinite leave for the talented West Australian.

"Everyone's respectful of what Mitch is going through. I don't think I need to go into any specifics other than to say we're really supportive of him being away from the club," Roos said.

"His health is the main issue at the moment.

"There's some discussions at the moment about putting him on the long-term injury list to take the pressure off him."

Roos said he was not concerned about how many weeks of football Clark might miss.

"It's about getting a process in place to make sure he gets healthy as soon as he can."

On Sunday Clark took to Twitter to say "I would like to thank @melbournefc and everyone for their understanding and support at this time."

Placing Clark on the long-term injury list will allow the Demons to replace him with a rookie-listed player, with Alex Georgiou named by Roos as a potential candidate.