HAWTHORN fans can rest easy this week after Lance Franklin trained well on Tuesday after hurting his hand in Friday night’s win over Carlton.
The Hawks star marked strongly during full ground drills, participated in full training including goal kicking practice before the session.
Franklin hurt his hand in a marking contest, as the ball hit his thumb and forefinger before he awkwardly landed on his hand and grimaced in pain.
He left the ground soon after to have it checked, but returned to the field to have a significant impact in the final term, kicking two final quarter goals to help the Hawks to a gutsy 15 point win over the Blues.
Coach Alastair Clarkson said his star forward jarred his finger in the third term in his post-match press conference on Friday night.
“You've got the ball coming at full speed and an opposition defender who is pretty keen to smack it … sometimes your hands are going to get in the road," he said.
"He just a got a bit of a jar, but he'll be OK, I'm sure."
Head of Coaching and Development, Chris Fagan confirmed the star forward will line up against the Eagles on Friday night at Etihad Stadium.
“He trained this afternoon, we had a good session,” he said.
“He marked the ball with confidence so I think it was one of those ones where it hurt a bit when he first did it but it’s cleared up pretty quickly.”
Fagan confirmed defender Josh Gibson is also fit to play despite receiving a knock to his head in the opening term of the win, resulting in the reliable defender wearing a bandage around his head for the duration of the game.
The Hawks are in a good position both on the field and off it, with Cyril Rioli nearing a return and just four other players on its injury list.
Matt Suckling and Ryan Schoenmakers won’t return this season as they recover from season ending knee injuries, but Fagan left the door open for a return for youngster Alex Woodward who ruptured his ACL in February.
“Woody and Suckers (Matt Suckling) have just returned from overseas where they got some good advice on the rehabilitation of their knees,” Fagan said.
“They’re back into training – Woody was running some good 200s this afternoon, he’s actually not too far away.
“He may even be a chance to return this year, who knows.”
Schoenmakers also returned to the track for the first time since his injury, walking laps of the Ricoh Centre oval on Tuesday.
“The other guys (Suckling and Schoenmakers) are well and truly on track,” Fagan said.
“Ryan Schoenmakers was walking laps today, which was a good sign – it means he’s on the road to recovery.”
Brendan Whitecross made a successful return to football in the VFL, who’ll soon add further competition for spots in an already powerful Hawthorn side.
“He looked like he hadn’t played football for eight or 10 months, but I reckon in the second half of the game he started to find a little bit of rhythm and did some useful things in what was a pretty close, hard fought game,” Fagan said of Whitecross’ return.
Jed Anderson will miss the next thee-four weeks with a hamstring injury.
