TWO-TIME All-Australian Chad Wingard is expected to be available for selection this weekend, but defender Changkuoth Jiath has been ruled out of Hawthorn's clash against Port Adelaide and might not return until after the club's mid-season bye.
Wingard will be cleared to return to action if he completes Thursday's main training after missing two games due to a calf strain.
The 29-year-old will be an interesting selection decision for the match committee inside Waverley Park later in the week given his slow start to the season and the fact Hawthorn has won both games in his absence.
Jacob Koschitzke and Sam Butler have played the past three games in the senior side, while Tyler Brockman came in for Wingard in round 10 after serving a one-game suspension, before being substituted in Saturday's win over St Kilda at Marvel Stadium.
Jiath has missed the past two wins over West Coast and St Kilda after straining his calf late in the round nine loss to Melbourne and trained away from the main group at Waverley Park again on Tuesday.
The Hawks were hopeful Jiath would only miss a game or two, but won't risk the dashing defender next weekend if he doesn't make strong progress between now and then.
Hawthorn has the bye in round 14 and could opt to take a more conservative approach by giving Jiath an extra week off to get his body right ahead of a return against Gold Coast at Heritage Bank Stadium in round 15.
The 23-year-old was hampered by some niggles early in the season that restricted his training each week. The club opted to rest him for the trip to Perth in round eight before he strained his calf against the Demons.
Jiath is a key part of the rebuild under Sam Mitchell and has demonstrated his class early in his career, but the defender has been plagued by injury setbacks across his first 45 games, managing 14 games last year after 16 appearances in 2021.
Under the guidance of new high performance boss Peter Burge, who joined the club from Richmond in the off-season, Hawthorn has enjoyed one of the healthiest injury lists in the AFL in 2023 and is confident Jiath will be on the park in the back end of the season.
Second-year midfielder Josh Ward is on the cusp of returning from a foot injury and could be cleared to play as soon as this weekend.
The 2021 pick No.7 hasn't played since the loss to Fremantle in round eight after scans revealed a bone overload issue in his foot after a training session earlier this month.
Ward, 19, had made a bright start to the season as part of a younger midfield brigade and is a key part of the future midfield division in brown and gold, alongside Jai Newcombe, Will Day, Conor Nash, James Worpel and Cam Mackenzie.
Hawthorn will travel to South Australia on Friday and attempt to win three games in a row for just the second time since the coaching change at the end of 2021.
The Hawks will be without James Sicily after the skipper accepted a one-game suspension for rough conduct against St Kilda forward Anthony Caminiti.
