A pair of significant Hawks are expected to be available for selection prior to the team’s Round 1 encounter with Essendon this Saturday.
Dylan Moore, the co-vice captain, will be tested for the first game after falling ill with glandular fever in the middle of February.
Moore has been out of commission for the past month, but in the last few weeks, he has become more fit.
More good news: after breaking his jaw during a match simulation earlier in the preseason, young talent Seamus Mitchell is expected to be available for play this weekend.
According to Peter Burge, the manager of Hawthorn’s high performance, the two have improved over the past week, placing them well-positioned for Round 1.
“Both have had a great last week, they fully trained on the weekend and this morning (Tuesday),” Burge said.
“Seamus will definitely be available for the weekend, while Dylan has one more session to get through as well… but it’s all really positive at this stage, but we’ll make a final call on Thursday (come team selection).”
Important forward Jack Gunston, rookie Josh Weddle, and utility Harry Morrison are anticipated to be available for selection as well, having missed the team’s most recent AAMI Community Series match in Launceston against the Western Bulldogs.
Bailey Macdonald, a 19-year-old Hawk in his second year, is also getting closer to making a comeback. He should be available before the team’s Round 2 match against Melbourne.
“It has been great seeing Bailey train with the group for the past week, seeing him with the ball in hand, accelerating and running, doing what he does best,” Burge stated.
“We’re just giving him a fortnight of full team training, given he was out for period of time and as a young player.”
Cooper Stephens, a midfielder, has returned to full training following an achilles injury.
“Towards the end of January and early February, he was having some issues completing some sessions, so we just had to take a step back and build some strength work in the gym and slowly progress his conditioning,” Burge said.
“In the past week and a half, he’s been able to build back into team training, and we’re looking potentially at Round 2 next week at some game time.”
After hamstring surgery last month, Changkuoth Jiath, a defenseman, is anticipated to make a full recovery in four to five weeks.
“He’s tracking along really well, he’s doing plenty of running at good speed,” Burge stated.
“It has been three and a half weeks since the initial injury; considering the type of injury and its location, it is more common.”
“The overall timeline of 7-8 weeks was necessary because this injury occurred more frequently in a location that we needed to respect.”
“He’ll get a number of weeks of good training under his belt, and a number of weeks of team football conditioning before we actually look at some game time around Round 4 or Round 5.”
A more precise timeline for Will Day’s return to play will be determined after he undergoes one last scan, the current best and fairest winner.
“Will had a scan last week which was super positive and allowed us to take the step of running on the Alter G treadmill which we’ll do for two weeks which is really important,” Burge said.
“He will receive another crucial scan the following week, which will undoubtedly provide us with the green light to begin running on grass again.
“After that, we’ll need to work with him through a re-conditioning phase before we start football, but after we’ve had that scan, we’ll have a more precise timetable and round return.
“At this stage, he’s back running and conditioning, and it’s exciting, we’re looking forward to that progressing and moving to the next phase.”
Following his achilles injury, veteran forward Chad Wingard is also progressing well and is anticipated to rejoin the team for training the following week.
“Contrary to some information that was floating around last week, which wasn’t correct, we’ve always targeted Round 8 as Chad’s return,” Burge said.
“Considering the nature of the injury, he was most likely tracking ahead of schedule, but that doesn’t mean his weeks will be advanced.
“He is returning to team football training one week from now which is exciting, and he’ll have multiple weeks of that before we consider any game time.”
Jack O’Sullivan, a young forward, will be out for a while with a foot injury.
“He developed a bit of plantar fasciitis during around the time of our pre-season camp in February,” Burge explained.
“We had anticipated a fairly quick resolution, but it’s taken a little longer than we had hoped.
“We’ve started him back outside again running straight lines on grass, we’re probably looking at a 3-4 week block now to get him back into match play.”
