WHILE not forgotten, Daniel Wells has become an afterthought as season 2015 unfolds. 

The two-time North Melbourne best-and-fairest winner has been unavailable since round two, and intrigue surrounds his rehabilitation to the point where some people close to him believe he may not play again this year. 

Predicting events beyond 2015 is a step into speculation. While contracted to North for the 2016 season, right now, nothing can be guaranteed. 

Only Wells himself fully knows his body. So when he says inflammation around an Achilles tendon continues to worry him to the point where he does not want to commit to placing it under extreme match condition-type stress, he is obviously within his rights. 

But that outlook is frustrating to some at North Melbourne, who feel the initial Achilles problem has been rectified to a point where, in their ideal world, Wells would be seriously increasing his rehabilitation workload with a view to returning to the senior team toward the end of the year. 

The process to take Wells from his current situation back to being able to play football would take about five weeks. With Wells still unable to commit to starting that process, the current season is ticking away. 

Wells’ reluctance to push himself through his current reservations and fears with his body are due to adverse outcomes having done so at least twice in the past. 

The first was in 2009 when he played despite enduring, hip, leg and groin issues. The second was when he was rushed back after three weeks on the sidelines with a calf injury for the 2012 elimination final against West Coast in Perth. 

North lost that match by 96 points and while most Roos players performed poorly, it was Wells’ sub-standard output which was most highlighted. 

He privately vowed after that game to never again play when he did not feel 100 per cent right.  Recent scans of Wells’ Achilles are believed to reveal no major problems.

But Wells has stated he does not feel comfortable aggressively pushing through his rehabilitation because of soreness and inflammation around the tendon. 

Each footballer is wired differently, and Wells has every right to argue that it is he who best knows his own body. 

The pause in his career with North does create questions about the future. Almost certainly North will invite questions about Wells in the upcoming trade period.

The amount of appeal to a rival club of an extraordinarily gifted yet banged-up played who will be 31 in February is an inexact science. 

Though it has created nowhere near the amount of media attention, Wells’ situation is similar to that of Gold Coast’s Gary Ablett, who has endured complications with a reconstructed shoulder. 

Two players crucial to their team’s fortunes. Two players who have pushed back on people at their club who have urged them to push through ailments.

Two players who will return only when they feel they are fully ready, and not when others are telling them that they are.  In Ablett’s case, that moment, after much debate and scrutiny, now seems soon. 

For Wells, it is nowhere near as soon.