HAWTHORN will regain veteran small forward Luke Breust for Sunday’s game against North Melbourne at Marvel Stadium, while Changkuoth Jiath will play in the VFL at Arden Street.
Breust missed the trip to play Greater Western Sydney last weekend after copping a blow to his throat in the loss to Carlton that left him with a badly bruised larynx.
The 32-year-old completed training at Waverley Park on Friday morning and has now ticked the final box to be cleared to play.
Jiath is set to play some minutes for Box Hill on Sunday after recovering from Achilles soreness following his VFL return a fortnight ago.
The 24-year-old hasn't played at AFL level since suffering a calf strain against Melbourne in round nine, leaving the rebounding defender to deal with another injury interrupted season.
"He played one game on limited minutes and then would have played last week. Had a bit of a challenge there. He will play – as long as he gets through today – at Box Hill," Mitchell said.
Wingman Karl Amon left the track early on Friday and is sore, but the free agent signing is expected to face the Kangaroos on Sunday.
Hawthorn captain James Sicily will return on Sunday after serving a three-game suspension for a dangerous tackle on Brisbane midfielder Hugh McCluggage.
Mitchell said the reigning Peter Crimmins Medal winner has been put through a solid training program during his time on the sidelines, around time in the coaches box and in the development space.
"He's had a couple of projects; a little bit of coaching; a little bit of helping some other guys and a bit of a training block, which he's loved," he said.
"I called him yesterday just to chat about a few things about the game. He is very excited to be back out there and ready to play."
Hawthorn is two games clear of North Melbourne and three games clear of bottom-placed West Coast, but three games below the next best team in Fremantle after Sydney beat the Western Bulldogs on Thursday night.
With seven games to play in his second season at the helm, Mitchell said the rebuilding Hawks will look to reward some sustained form at VFL level and take another look at some players if the opportunities present between now and the end of August.
Henry Hustwaite is yet to earn a debut despite a strong block at Box Hill, 2022 No.7 pick Cam Mackenzie is searching for more senior exposure, while Ned Long, Max Ramsden and Jai Serong have been pushing for a spot, along with mid-season recruit Brandon Ryan, who booted 4.0 last weekend after 0.6 the week before.
"It is a great balancing act between trying to get exposure to a lot of young players, which we are doing, but there aren't too many players that we can take out to get games into someone else," he said.
"We would love to get Mackenzie and Hustwaite and Long and Serong, Ramsden, they are all players we would love to get into the side and see what they can do. How we manage it and how we get players in is a balancing act to get as much development into the squad over the course of the next six weeks."
