Nissan Injury Update: Talented youngster set for return

Talented youngster Nick Watson is available for selection this week, while a number of Hawks are closing in on a return.

Watson was managed last week but is in line to face Adelaide on Saturday afternoon at the MCG.

Hawthorn High Performance Manager Peter Burge spoke about Watson’s progress, as well as how a host of other Hawks are tracking, in this week’s injury update. 

Nick Watson (Managed) – Available

“He was just sore from the game (against Port Adelaide), he had a few bumps and some bruises but was just generally sore. He’s a first-year player so we took the chance this week to freshen him up. He’s done some conditioning over the weekend and started training today with the main group, will train on Thursday and we’ll see him out there on the weekend.”

Lloyd Meek (Ankle) – Test

“Lloyd had an incident in the third quarter (against Brisbane) and sprained his ankle. He came from the ground, went through an assessment, got taped up and went back out there. He fought on courageously and it was an awesome effort by him. He actually felt better towards the end of the fourth quarter and played the quarter out for us. He’s pulled up quite sore so right now, he’s a test for this week. It’s probably less likely than likely for the weekend but we want to give him every chance and assess him later in the week for the weekend.”

Jai Serong (Concussion) – 1 week

“Early in the VFL game, he had an incident, he came from the ground and was ruled out with concussion. He’ll now go through the concussion protocols and won’t be available this week.”

Mitch Lewis (Knee) – TBC

“Mitch is progressing really well. I said last week that it was really positive. He was doing some AlterG treadmill work and he actually did some running outside last week. This week, we are running outside and building some volume into his training. He’s feeling really good and he’s testing really well so we’ll be closer next week to actually putting a timeline on his return, which is positive.”

Will McCabe (Back) 2-4 weeks

“Will’s going fantastic. Today, he did some skill work again with the group and he’ll do some main training later this week. We’re aiming for a Round 14 or a Round 16 return. There’s a bye in the middle of those two games so hopefully it’s the former in Round 14 but everything would have to go really smoothly for that return. We’re getting closer to seeing him back out there playing football.” 

See the full Round 12 Injury Update below.