HAWTHORN stars Lance Franklin and Luke Hodge have been sidelined for up to three weeks, with hamstring and knee injuries respectively.
Franklin was in doubt for Sunday’s win over Greater Western Sydney with hamstring tightness, but after scans revealed no damage, was cleared to play.
After booting four goals in two and a half quarter of football, the Hawthorn spearhead was unexpectedly substituted out of the game in the third term with what appeared to be a corked buttock.
Scans on Monday, however, confirmed bleeding in his hamstring, resulting a a few weeks on the sidelines for the Coleman Medal leader.
Hawthorn General Manager - Football Operations, Mark Evans said the news was extremely disappointing both for the Club and for Franklin.
“It’s really unfortunate for Buddy,” Evans said.
“He tested so well last week and the test was clear.
“The way he played in the first half was just tremendous, he was kicking goals.
“He was shattered when he came off, he said he felt some contact in a marking contest earlier and not sure whether he’s put extra strain or load on the hamstring because of that or not.
“He came off feeling tight and the scan showed that there is a small amount of bleeding and it’s near a nerve, which probably explains the tightness.”
The Hawks are hopeful, however, that Franklin could make a return sooner rather than later.
“Hopefully that settles down pretty quick for him, he’s normally a really quick healer but at this stage we’ve said three weeks but hopefully he might be even a little quicker than that, we’ll just wait and see,” Evans said.
Hodge has played just two matches this season after battling calf and knee injuries since the eve of Round 1.
It has been the posterior cruciate ligament injury in his knee, however, that has proved to be most troublesome.
His seemingly imminent return to the Hawks line-up has been delayed by swelling in the knee post-training on Monday.
“He has been able to do some really good training over the past few weeks,” Evans said.
“Unfortunately for him, after a fairly hard session, last week he pulled up with a little bit of swelling on Monday, which had to be drained and treated.
“That has settled down and yesterday he was fantastic and he’ll be back into full training by the end of this week.
“I know it still feels like we’re saying stay tuned for Luke Hodge, but there’s plenty left in the season and he’ll be fine.”
The Hawks expect midfielders Shaun Burgoyne and Brad Sewell to return for Sunday’s match against the Bulldogs at Etihad Stadium after missing the 162-point drubbing of the Giants on Sunday.
“Both of them were quite minor really in the scheme of things,” Evans said.
“Shaun had been carrying a quad corky for quite a while now, so it was a good chance for him not to play.
“Brad Sewell really carried a lot of the load this year.
“They’ll both be fine to come back in.”
In more good news for the Hawks, ruckman Max Bailey’s return to football is imminent, with the towering ruckman set to resume in the VFL either this week or next.
“The good news for Maxy is he’s got a lot of strength back into that wrist and he’s nearly ready to go,” Evans said.
“Whether that’s this week or next week, we’ll still have to make that call after training but really pleased with how that’s going.”
Kate Salemme is a member of Hawthorn Football Club’s Digital media team reporting exclusively for hawthornfc.com.au from the Ricoh Centre.
Injury list
Max Bailey (wrist) - test
Xavier Ellis (knee) - test
Lance Franklin (hamstring) - 3 weeks
Luke Hodge (knee) - 2-3 weeks
Will Langford (shoulder) - 1 week
Michael Osborne (knee) - season
Alex Woodward (knee) - season
RELATED
Luke Hodge's return delayed Lance Franklin sidelined Jarryd Roughead says the Hawks are building towards a big month of football in which they take on Collingwood, Essendon and Geelong Ruckman Max Bailey is nearing a return to football Check out Hawthorn's win-loss record when playing without Lance Franklin
