HAWTHORN forwards Mitch Lewis and Luke Breust have been ruled out of this weekend's trip to Queensland to face Gold Coast, but Changkuoth Jiath is on the verge of returning from his latest soft tissue setback.

Lewis didn't face Collingwood at Adelaide Oval in Gather Round after suffering a low-grade hamstring injury in the loss to Geelong, where he didn't return following a 45-minute severe weather delay on Easter Monday. 

The 25-year-old has recovered from the hamstring injury but is dealing with some joint soreness in his knee – the opposite knee to the one he injured last year – and might spent another fortnight on the sidelines. 

Breust missed the five-point loss to the Magpies on Sunday due to a lingering groin injury he carried across the first few weeks of the season. The two-time All-Australian will miss at least one more week.

Jiath is closing in on a return from a pre-season hamstring injury and will return to full training on Thursday. 

Hawthorn is hopeful the dashing defender-wingman will be available to play at some level next weekend.

The 24-year-old has endured a frustrating injury run with calf and Achilles issues limiting him to just eight appearances in 2023 that led to him heading to Qatar for treatment in January. 

Sam Mitchell's side drifted to 0-4 after falling just short of pulling off one of the upsets of the season in South Australia, almost recovering from 38 points down at half-time after kicking the final five goals of the game. 

The Hawks have been without reigning Peter Crimmins medallist Will Day over the first month while the game-breaking midfielder recovers from a stress fracture in his foot. 

Day has started training with the main group again and is scheduled to return against Sydney in round seven.  

Dual All-Australian Chad Wingard will look to bank a full block of training in April before making his return from a ruptured Achilles for Box Hill in early May.