The AFL season is officially over for Dean Cox, with the West Coast ruckman unable to recover from a serious groin complaint.

Cox was clearly hampered by the injury when he last played in round 15, meandering through three quarters of the match before spending the final term on the bench.

Cox flew to Adelaide a month ago where he and star onballer Daniel Kerr consulted a groin specialist in a bid to get to the bottom of their respective problems.

While Kerr was ruled out for the remainder of the season earlier this month, Cox hoped to be back for one or two games.

The four-times All-Australian had been undergoing a series of exercises aimed at providing additional muscle strength through his core but said he had simply run out of time to appear again this season.

"There was just no point trying to push through for the sake of possibly one game," Cox said.

"We have taken a conservative approach with this program and that is certainly the way to go.

"Progress has been good and for the next three weeks I will just offer as much support as possible to the other players as we look towards completing a strong finish the season."

Cox was well on his way to his fifth straight All-Australian guernsey before going down with the complaint.

In 13 games this season, the 28-year-old averaged 22 possessions and 26 hit-outs per game.

In Cox's absence, emerging star Nic Naitanui and Quinten Lynch have taken over the ruck duties, holding their own in most matches.

The Eagles will be aiming to make it three wins on the trot when they tackle North Melbourne at Subiaco Oval on Saturday.

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