Brisbane coach Chris Fagan remains optimistic Josh Schache will sign a new deal with the Lions but the young Victorian shouldn't expect to play AFL footy again this year if he opts out.
Schache, the second overall pick at the 2015 draft, is due to return to the AFL club on Monday after he spent the past two weeks at home in Seymour.
Speculation is rife that the 199cm key forward will tell the Lions, currently last with a 1-9 record, that he wants a trade to a Victorian club at the end of the season.
"I'm not one to say that I want to know tomorrow or the next day ... I'll let nature take its course," Fagan said of Schache.
"I'm very hopeful that he'll stay ... I think Brisbane have looked after him incredibly well.
"He might be incredibly homesick. That's something that's very difficult to stop, if that's what's happening. I know we've done everything as a club to help him, and I know he knows that.
"We'll see how it all goes but I've still got a strong level of optimism that he'll stay with us."
Brisbane list manager David Noble will meet with Schache, who is uncontracted at the end of the season, to discuss his future but there is to time frame for those talks.
Schache was granted leave after he was dropped to the reserves and put in a disinterested four-possession performance in the NEAFL.
The 19-year-old played 17 games in his debut AFL season with just six senior appearances this year.
He shouldn't expect to add to that tally if he decides his future lies at a Victorian AFL club.
"I guess if a guy decides he's going to leave your footy club, he's not going to help you into the future and you're not in the finals race, you'd probably have to think twice about getting games into him as opposed to another young player who's going to stay at the club," Fagan said on Fox News Sports.
"I think that's our scenario."
Meanwhile, the Lions have ruled out combative midfielder Mitch Robinson for the rest of the season.
The 27-year-old is set for surgery to repair a broken foot suffered in round seven.
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