CHAD Wingard will face two crucial fitness tests on Thursday and Saturday this week that could determine whether the gun Hawthorn recruit will be ready to play in round two.
Wingard will be sidelined for the team's season opener against Adelaide on Saturday afternoon, having suffered a frustrating setback to a calf injury last month.
But the two-time All Australian remains a chance to play in Hawthorn's round two clash with the Western Bulldogs, should he emerge from two crucial training sessions this week unscathed.
"I've still got a lot of boxes to tick to even be ready for round two," Wingard said at Kayo's launch of the 2019 AFL season on Wednesday.
"Hopefully Thursday and Saturday will be a good indicator of where I'm at.
"I'd love to be playing in round one, but obviously you've just got to trust the physios.
"It's a recurring injury, so you've got to respect that and make sure it doesn't happen again.
"I nicked it four weeks ago on Saturday, so I don't want to do that again."
Hawthorn confirmed on Tuesday that fellow new recruit Tom Scully would return from a fractured fibula and a syndesmosis injury in the new two or three weeks, though he would most likely come through the VFL.
