HAWTHORN forward Chad Wingard has ruptured his Achilles tendon and is facing up to a year on the sidelines after suffering the devastating injury in Launceston on Sunday. 

Wingard had returned to form across the past six weeks after spending time at Box Hill in the middle part of the season, before being carried off University of Tasmania Stadium in the opening minutes of the three-point win over the Western Bulldogs.

The 30-year-old returned to Melbourne with the team on Sunday night and met with a specialist on Monday morning where the club’s initial fears were confirmed.

The dual All-Australian is set to go under the knife in the coming days and will be forced to overcome a long road back with recovery time between nine to 12 months.

Wingard is out of contract at the end of October and facing an uncertain future given the Hawks are in the early stage of a rebuild and rival suitors may not be prepared to sign a player that will be unavailable for most, if not all, of 2024. 

The South Australian made a blockbuster trade away from Port Adelaide at the end of 2018 after playing 147 games for the Power, signing a five-year deal with the Hawks. 

Wingard has added 71 appearances across five injury interrupted seasons at Waverley Park. 

The ugly injury took the gloss of one of Hawthorn’s best wins of the season down in Tasmania. 

A week after producing the upset of the season over premiership favourites Collingwood at the MCG, the Hawks backed it up with another top-eight scalp to add to the win over Brisbane in round 13. 

Hawthorn made some bold list decisions last October, shedding a lot of experience to help fast track the rebuild under Sam Mitchell. 

Now almost 12 months on, the Hawks have won only one less game than 2022 – seven to eight last year – with two games to play against Melbourne and Fremantle.