Essendon are growing increasingly frustrated by the situation surrounding young gun Nik Cox, according to Channel 7’s Caroline Wilson.

Cox has been ruled out for the remainder of the season after facing the AFL’s independent concussion panel in June following a series of head knocks over the past 12 months.

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Essendon frustrated with Nik Cox situation.

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But while he was initially given a clear return-to-play pathway, the panel won’t reconvene until October at the earliest.

It leaves the club and Cox unsure of his future until after the trade period.

“The situation now, and this is what’s frustrating Essendon, is that the concussion committee cannot be convened for the purposes of assessing the future of Nik Cox until at the very, very earliest October and probably November,” Wilson reported on The Agenda Setters.

“Look, I don’t know if it’s bureaucracy. These are busy people. There’s medical people involved. They have busy schedules. This is also a very costly exercise. Clubs have to pay for this, and it’s not coming out of the soft cap.

“I’m not dissing the importance of the seriousness of concussion, but we’re looking at $10,000 to actually go through this process. So I think that the footy department is becoming increasingly frustrated that the AFL can’t intervene and speed this up.

“I think, if I’m blunt, I think Nik Cox is probably at the moment a 50-50 proposition to play again, and whether he chooses to play again with all the red flags he’s had with concussions.

“But the club need to know, surely, before the trade period, they need to know for their list management what’s going to happen. So this is an ongoing issue.”

Wilson stressed that concussion is a very serious issue in the game.

“I think this is just one of the many bureaucratic problems that has come about through what is rightly a very serious issue and doing the right thing,” she added.

Fellow panellist Luke Hodge said it’s important to make the right call when it comes to Cox’s future.

“It’s also something that you wouldn’t want to rush into,” he said.

“He might need a good four, six months to make sure he gets over the last concussion before they go and make a pretty serious call on his future.”

Cox suffered a concussion in Round 22 last year before going down again in a training session before Christmas.

Symptoms lingered throughout the pre-season, but he eventually returned to VFL level and played two games before he was sidelined again and placed in concussion protocols.

He then faced the same independent panel that recommended he sit out the remainder of the season.

Cox made an eye-catching start to his AFL career.

Taken with pick No.8 in the 2020 draft, the 200cm utility excited the AFL world with his athleticism and mobility.

He played 22 senior games in his debut season, but then only managed 11 in 2022 and 2023.

Cox was a regular starter last year, managing 20 games until a concussion in Round 22 ended his season early.