Demons young gun Kysaiah Pickett has taken a leave of absence from the club due to personal reasons.

Melbourne football performance manager Alan Richardson confirmed on SEN radio this morning that the 19-year old would spend time away following the passing of his mother.

Pickett will stay with his family in South Australia and return "when he feels it is the right time".

"Kossie will be away for a little while, unfortunately, and condolences to the family, his mother passed away," Richardson toldย SEN Breakfast.

"He needs to do the right thing there and certainly is committed to go back. The funeral is late February, early March, I don't know the exact date. But he'll be there until then and then when he feels like it is the right time to leave the family he'll come back."

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Richardson said that the club respected the Indigenous culture's grieving process and that Pickett would train train during his time away.

He trusted the youngster to do the right thing and expected him back in around two weeks.

"He'll train over there. We're blessed to have Matty Whealen here in welfare advice with this stuff," Richardson said.

"We don't profess to know everything about the Indigenous culture. But we understand that there are some differences and we need to respect that. And we're incredibly supportive of whatever Kossie thinks is the right thing and certainly his family thinks is the right thing and we'll support that.

"It looks like it will still be a couple of weeks until he's back. He'll train and then he'll still have a couple of weeks prior to Round 1, we'll just have to wait and see how he goes."

Pickett was drafted to the Demons out of South Australia with Pick 12 in the 2019 AFL Draft.

The small forward made his debut last year and went on to play 14 games, impressing with his excitement and flare.

Pickett's absence is compounded by injuries to key forwards Ben Brown (knee) and Sam Weideman (leg), who will both miss the start of the 2021 season.

Delisted Kangaroo Majak Daw could help fill Melbourne's voids up forward, with the big man invited to train with the club in a bid to win a list spot during the supplemental selection period.