Kelly Slater has done it again. Despite being seen surfing well off the Australian coast, he has once again taken the cautious path, taking care of his foot, and said he will not be competing in the third stage of the 2018 CT, the Margaret River Drug Aware Pro, the WSL reported Friday.

His replacement will be Brazilian Miguel Pupo, ranked 25th last year (Bede Durbidge was supposed to be there, but he declined to participate). Meanwhile, the WSL commissioners' office chose Mikey Wright as a wildcard for being the best Australian in the current QS.

Neither of them will have it easy, the Brazilian is up against John John Florence and Caio Ibelli, and the Australian against Gabriel Medina and Wade Carmichael.

It is also worth mentioning that Pupo has been surfing friendly and very long waves in Chicama these last few days.

The complete series are as follows:
S1: Matt Wilkinson vs. Conner Coffin vs. Mike February
S2: Jordy Smith vs Connor O'Leary vs Keanu Asing
S3: Owen Wright vs Tomas Hermes vs Ian Gouveia
S4: John John Florence vs. Caio Ibelli vs. Miguel Pupo
S5: Gabriel Medina vs. Wade Carmichael vs. Mikey Wright
S6: Julian Wilson vs Joan Duru vs To Be Defined
S7: Filipe Toledo vs Kanoa Igarashi vs Yago Dora
S8: Adriano de Souza vs. Griffin Colapinto vs. William Cardoso
S9: Adrian Buchan vs Sebastian Zietz vs Michael Rodrigues
S10: Italo Ferreira vs Jeremy Flores vs Ezekiel Lau
S11: Kolohe Andino vs. Frederico Morais vs. Pat Gudauskas
S12: Joel Parkinson vs Michel Bourez vs Jessé Mendes

The local wildcard remains to be determined.

On another note, the WSL statement mentions that Kelly is likely to be seen back in the commentary booth, as happened at Bells. Could she finally be making a career change?

Finally, the WSL indicated that reports show that solid waves are travelling to Western Australia during the tournament date, from April 11 to 22.

The ladies' series have not yet been announced.