HAWTHORN will be without skipper Luke Hodge for at least the next month after he had surgery to repair the broken right arm he suffered in the loss to Geelong on Easter Monday.
Scans revealed Hodge broke the ulna in his right arm in a collision with Cat Mitch Duncan in the final term and he underwent surgery on Tuesday afternoon.
"Our worst fears are realised, the X-rays showed a fracture of his ulna," football manager Chris Fagan said.
"We think it will take somewhere between 4-6 weeks at this stage."
Your club's injury list after round one
He had surgery to repair the break on Tuesday and the club predicts he will be out for 4-6 weeks.
Hodge will miss this Sunday's Grand Final rematch at the MCG against West Coast, followed by clashes with the Western Bulldogs (Etihad Stadium), St Kilda (Aurora Stadium) and Adelaide (MCG).
Should he be out for six weeks, he would also be absent for games against Greater Western Sydney (Spotless Stadium) and Richmond (MCG).
However, the Hawks could have an immediate midfield replacement with Liam Shiels a chance to return from a wrist injury to face the Eagles on Sunday.
"Shielsy's going really well, actually, he's a chance to play this week. We'll just have to see how he goes through training and his level of comfort," Fagan said.
However, speedy wingman Bradley Hill is still 3-5 weeks away from returning after surgery on his wrist last week and ruckman Jon Ceglar (back spasms) is no certainty to be fit after being a late withdrawal for round one.
"The good part about wrist injuries is you can still train and keep yourself aerobically fit ... but Hilly, like Hodgey, is going to miss a bit of time," Fagan said.
"(Ceglar) is no guarantee, we've got to see how he progresses through training this week."
Matt Spangher (calf) is still about a month away from returning through the VFL for Box Hill, Jack Fitzpatrick (knee) is aiming for round one of the VFL on April 9 and Zac Webster (quad) is at least two weeks away from playing.