Hawks face finals shake-up with key forward ruled out
Shayne Hope |
Hawthorn key forward Mitch Lewis shapes as a possible inclusion for the AFL semi-final against Adelaide after Calsher Dear was ruled out with a hamstring injury.
Dear kicked one goal from five disposals before he was subbed out of the Hawks’ thrilling elimination final win over GWS last weekend.
Scans on Monday revealed a “low to moderate” strain that will sideline the second-year star for Friday night’s clash with the Crows at Adelaide Oval.
Teammate Harry Morrison has been ruled out for the rest of the season because of a quadriceps injury, after playing 20 home-and-away matches this year.
Hawthorn high performance manager Peter Burge said Dear was running at speed during the Giants clash and noticed a tightening sensation in the hamstring.
“We’ve since had a scan today, which has shown he’s got a low to moderate-grade hamstring injury,” Burge said.
“We need to put him into a very short rehab phase. He’ll miss the game this weekend and we’ll need to reassess again for next week.
“He’s certainly not ruled out of the season, obviously depending on how deep we can continue to go, but he won’t be playing this week.”
Dear starred during his debut season last year but had a delayed start to 2025 because of a back injury.
The 20-year-old returned in May and had another stint in the VFL before a three-goal AFL comeback in round 18.
He kicked a further six goals in six appearances before the finals.
“It’s worth noting too that Calsher’s been on a heavily modified program this year, given the stress fracture he started with at the start of the year,” Burge said.
“He’s a second-year player, but he has been pretty much doing first-year player loads in terms of his training.
“With a long career ahead of him, we need to keep building his conditioning and adapting to football and high-intensity football, and when you play finals footy, it’s at another level.
“So unfortunately he’s not playing this week but we’ll get him back into a running program and hopefully see him again before the end of the season.”
While Dear’s injury is a blow for Hawthorn, they are able to recall fellow tall target Lewis, who was dropped for the elimination final.
Lewis found form at VFL level, kicking four goals from 11 touches in Box Hill’s semi-final win over the Brisbane Lions.
Lewis returned from a long-term knee injury in July and kicked five goals in six AFL appearances.
The 26-year-old was subbed out of the final-round loss to Brisbane before missing out on selection in the elimination final team.
The Hawks, who have often picked four tall forwards in their side this year, had Mabior Chol, Jack Gunston and Dear as marking targets against GWS.
Gunston kicked three goals, as did smalls Jack Ginnivan and Connor Macdonald, while Chol added two.
AAP
