Geelong coach Chris Scott has emphasised a lack of involvement in ongoing complications regarding Tyson Stengle, suggesting the player's future is in the hands of other powers.
"I suspect if I asked I wouldn't even get the answer," Scott said.
After confirming he expected both Bailey Smith and Tom Stewart to be able to return to the game this week, Scott remained frustratingly vague regarding the next steps for Stengle.
"He's been miles off being available for AFL selection so it sort of hasn't crossed my desk," Scott said.
Stengle's future with Geelong has been called into question after he failed to make a team flight, 36 hours after being spotted in a nightclub in Melbourne. Stengle hasn't played at AFL this year, and has featured once in the VFL this year.
"I've got so much admiration for the players that can just persevere through the ups and downs as well as they do," Scott said.
"It's a bit of a surprise to me you don't have more players just saying: 'Look, I'm finding this too tough at the moment'.
"We like to make things as easy as we possibly can because, let's be honest, most of the time it's going to be bloody hard work.
"And my take on where Tyson is at, is that's how he's feeling about his sort of football life at the moment: it's just all a little bit hard for him."
Scott went on to say that, while he respects how much pressure is placed on players today, it's not something that strongly influences club decisions.
"There is a limit to our support," Scott added.
"This is a tough game. But there's limits to how far our empathy takes us, because we're not a charity."
The two-time premiership coach was quizzed whether the AFL should step in or is it a club matter, he responded: "It's not me ... there's probably other people that you should put that question to.
"Our role in these situations, we talk a lot about really supporting players.
"You shouldn't mistake the real priority that we place on player welfare for forgetting that we're also in a high performance industry and we have high expectation of our players."
Stengle last played AFL in the losing grand final to Brisbane.
