Michael Hooper will not make his Australia rugby sevens debut in Perth as expected, with the former Wallaby's first outing delayed in a hit to his Olympic aspirations.
The 32-year-old was controversially overlooked for last year's World Cup in the 15-a-side format.
After announcing his switch to sevens in November, Hooper had been eyeing off the January 26-28 tournament in Western Australia as his first step on the road to the Paris Games, which begin in July.
But the 125-Test veteran's first appearance has been pushed back until at least the Vancouver-Los Angeles leg of the world series, beginning in late February.
Coach John Manenti said the former flanker, who only began full-time training with the squad this month, needed more time to adapt to the high-octane sevens workload.
"He's going well, started on January 3," Manenti told AAP.
"The biggest thing in sevens - we play multiple times a day, three days in a row - is being able to run fast in those back-to-back games and days.
"To do that you have to replicate in training, and 'Hoops' has only been in for a week and a half, he's still building that capacity.
"The footy side of things is a no-brainer, he gets it ... I expect we'll roll him in in the next leg."
A debut in Canada would mean Hooper has five tournaments to press his case for a Games berth.
That would align with French Test star and Olympics aspirant Antoine Dupont, who is also slated to make his sevens debut in Vancouver.
Australia's men won a maiden world series in 2022 under Manenti, who returned to the job after coaching the nation's women at the Tokyo Olympics.
They are currently sitting sixth on the world series table after two events, losing the final to ladder-leading Argentina in Cape Town in December to close out 2023.
Australia will play Ireland, Great Britain and the USA in their men's pool fixtures in Perth.
