HAWTHORN'S horror news of recent days has continued, with star midfielder Jaeger O'Meara to undergo surgery to have a plate inserted in his broken hand.
THE FULL INJURY LIST Who is racing the clock?
The Hawks' vice-captain suffered the injury in the first quarter of Sunday's loss to West Coast, but managed to play out the game.
Gun defender James Sicily went down with an anterior cruciate ligament rupture late in the same match and faces spending the next 12 months on the sidelines.
"It was a pretty gallant effort from him to get through the game," Hawthorn's physical performance manager Luke Boyd said of O'Meara.
"He's going to have surgery this week, which will obviously rule him out (of Saturday's clash with Port Adelaide). We'll reassess next week and see whether he's available to play."
Emerging onballer Harry Jones would have been a leading contender to replace O'Meara, but sustained an injury setback of his own in Sunday's scratch match against the Eagles.
Jones will miss the next four to six weeks, and possibly the rest of the season, with a medial collateral ligament injury after copping a knock.
It's horrible timing for Jones, who missed out on making his AFL debut last year because of a posterior cruciate ligament issue before finally playing his first game in round five this year.
The positive, Boyd said, was the MCL setback was unrelated to the PCL one.
Premiership wingman Isaac Smith is also no certainty to return from his shoulder injury.
James Cousins now looks the most obvious candidate to come into the Hawks' team for his first senior match of the year after strong scrimmage game form.
