The long wait in cotton wool continues for Josh Drummond after the injury-plagued Brisbane Lions dangerman was ruled out of the AFL’s regular season opening round on Thursday.

But it was news to Drummond.

A setback in his recovery from off-season hip surgery is the latest in Drummond’s myriad ailments that have restricted him to 79 games in seven seasons.

However, a positive Drummond had still been hopeful of running out against Melbourne on March 31.

But coach Michael Voss was taking no risks with the 28-year-old.

“It’s probably unrealistic to think Josh will be available for round one,” Voss said on Thursday.

“Certainly we’re hopeful he’ll play games before then but his fitness base has taken a little bit longer.

“He’s had a fairly big surgery so we’ve got to go slow with him.

“His ball use is second to none, we know how valuable he is for us – we want to get him out there.”

Drummond earlier on Thursday said he had not dropped his head during his spate of injuries and had kept his fingers crossed he would feature in the pre-season NAB Cup.

“You definitely have moments where you wish it’d go a different way,” Drummond said.

“But being negative or feeling sorry for yourself doesn’t help you get back out there or won’t help me get through a full season of footy.

“There’s no point moping around the club. There’s guys out there that are worse off than me.

“I’m naturally a pretty positive sort of guy so I don’t think about it too much.

“I try to narrow it down to what I need to do to get better and stronger and focus my energy on that.”

Drummond and Daniel Rich were the two big names missing from the Lions’ recent intra-club match.

But Voss said Rich had only been rested as a precaution after the boom youngster complained of foot pain.

Rich missed six games last season with a stress problem in the same foot.

“We’re being fairly cautious there because we have no reason to accelerate him,” Voss said.

“He’s completed a full pre-season, he’s in as good a condition as I’ve seen him.

“We’re just being ultra cautious and that makes it ultra frustrating for him because I can guarantee you he wants to play right now, he thinks he’s ready to go.

“It’s on the minor end of the scale. The first game he’ll play, baring any hiccups, will be round three of the NAB Cup.”

The Lions are holding a Community Camp on the Sunshine Coast until Friday in the build-up to their NAB Cup openers against Melbourne and the Gold Coast on February 25 at Metricon Stadium.