Will Pucovski aims to return to cricket early next month as the emerging Australian Test batsman recovers from the 10th concussion of his career.
Victorian coach Chris Rogers said the 23-year-old plans to return for their first home Sheffield Shield match from November 5-8 against NSW.
Pucovski was not at Victoria training on Thursday morning and will stay at home when the team starts their Shield season from October 27-30 against NSW in Sydney.
"It's just probably come a touch too early," Rogers said of their Shield opener.
"He's been in the last few days and he looks pretty good, so he's targeting the second Shield game.
"He's been through this before, so he knows what it's like and he'll be ready to go.
"He's a pretty resilient guy now - if you go through (this) many setbacks, you have to have something about you."
While Pucovski's 10th concussion puts him in doubt for the first Ashes Test from December 8 at the Gabba, Rogers backed the opener to make a late claim for selection.
"He's showed before that he can hit the ground running as he did last year in the two Sheffield Shield games when he got two 200s," Rogers said.
"If he was good enough to come and do something like that again, I think the Australian selectors would definitely have something to consider."
Pucovski's latest setback came earlier this month when he was hit in the head while batting at training.
Injuries have restricted him to just one Test and Australian captain Tim Paine said he was "shattered" by last week's news.
While Rogers is upbeat about how Pucovski is coping, he was more circumspect when asked how many head knocks might be too many.
"That's a good question, nothing I can really answer," he said.
"He sees specialists, so they'll be talking to him about that and obviously that's got to play a role at some stage.
"But at the moment, he's still keen to continue on."
