Hawthorn midfielder Tom Mitchell is set to make a swift return to his Brownlow form of 2018 if history is anything to go by.

Mitchell will make his return to the field this year after spending the entirety of the 2019 season on the sidelines with a broken leg.

Here are the stories of four prominent Hawks who made strong returns from their lay-offs.

Alec Albiston  

At 26 years of age, Alec Albiston had already played 77 senior games for the Hawks when he put his career on hold ahead of the 1943 season.

It wasn’t because Albiston had won just 14 of those games to that point that he took the year off.

Nor was it because of injury, in fact he never missed one game across his 12-year career through injury.

Instead it was due to his service in the Royal Australian Air Force.

Clearly the club’s greatest goal kicker of his era, Albiston, who remains in 10^th place on the club’s all-time leading goal kicking list, served in the Air Force full-time in 1943 and 1944.

The following year, the 1941 club best and fairest winner returned to the field in 1945 and, whilst still holding the position as a Corporal in the Air Force, he won his fourth leading goalkicker award. 

Jarryd Roughead

In May 2016, cult hero Jarryd Roughead received news that a melanoma on his lip had spread.

The news sent shockwaves through the club and the wider football community as the popular four-time premiership player was set for an indefinite stint away from the game.

Six months later, Roughead was thankfully declared cancer-free.

The forward’s return to the field, in Round 1 of the 2017 season, was one of footy’s greatest feel-good stories in recent memory.

Incredibly, the newly-appointed captain featured in every game that year on the way to winning his third club goal kicking award.

David O’Halloran

David O’Halloran arrived at Hawthorn in 1976 and made an instant impact.

Slotting straight into the Hawks backline, O’Halloran became a premiership player in his debut season after featuring in every game.

A durable and resilient player who earned the nickname ‘Rubber’, he recorded an impressive 92 games in his opening four years at the club.

But that wasn’t to say O’Halloran was completely clear of injury troubles in the early years of his career.

The number eight injured his knee in the 1978 semi final, which tragically saw him miss the successful grand final a fortnight later.

Despite being able to recover well enough to play 18 games in 1979, O’Halloran again did his knee in the lead-up to the 1980 season.

The defender was forced to spend the entire 1980 season on the sidelines as the then-25-year-old dealt with the ailment.

O’Halloran would recover to play another five years and 68 games in the brown and gold.

Albert Prior

Albert Prior was just 20 years old and one game into his VFL career when he enlisted with the Army Signals in 1942.

With a sole game for the Hawks in 1941 under his belt, ‘Butch’ Prior, as he was known, spend the next two years away on war service.

Prior returned in 1944 and showed no signs of rust.

He played another 102 games in the brown and gold, kicking 258 goals which is good for 18^th on the club’s all-time goal kicking list.