Top Richmond draft selection Taj Hotton won't play senior football until June until he recovers from injury.
Hotton, 18, who was selected by the Tigers with pick 12 in the AFL Draft, tore his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his knee at a Haileybury College training session in May.
This saw the initial top five prospect slip back in the draft outside the top 10, with Richmond selecting Sam Lalor at pick 1 and Josh Smillie with pick 7.
Hotton had minor surgery on the knee in October and is expected to be running before Christmas.
But the Tigers will exercise caution on a player they feel will be a long-term proposition at Punt Road.
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"Taj is super keen, but we will take the full 12 months to rehab him," Richmond high performance boss Ben Serpell told AFL.com.au.
"We are still getting our heads around where he's at. He met with his surgeon midweek and we'll get the details from him and start to build a plan for that and hopefully have him out there relatively soon.
"We'll probably take the full 12 months and look after the kid. He's got a long career ahead of him."
