Greater Western Sydney coach Leon Cameron has all but put a line through Jonathon Patton’s 2019 campaign, adding to speculation the spearhead could end up at a rival AFL club next season.

Patton hasn’t played at the top flight since round 15 last year after going down with an ACL injury that required him to have a third knee reconstruction.

Cameron said the 26-year-old, who is contracted at the Giants next year but has recently been linked to Hawthorn, would not recover in time to feature in September.

“Jon’s probably not going to play again this year,” he said.

“It’s a really hard one because there’s the physical return from the three knees, then there’s the mental return from the three knees.”

Cameron said the knee reconstructions had left Patton, who has booted 130 goals in 89 games for the Giants, with some “mental demons” that affected his ability to compete without hesitation in marking contests.

“We’ve sort of backed off his training a little bit and hoping we can build it back up again, but it’s probably going to run out of time now,” the GWS coach said.

“It’s been a tough decision probably not to up the ante on some of those training drills, because of the space he’s been in and the past cards he’s been dealt.

“But I’m confident Jon Patton will get back and play some really good AFL football.”