Hawthorn’s premiership hopes have suffered a hit with dynamic, athletic utility Josh Weddle sidelined indefinitely with a bone stress injury in his back.
With the club’s best player Will Day still out of the team, the loss of the versatile running tall is a damaging blow for the Hawks. Day at least is due to return to the side soon.
Hawk Josh Weddle will be out indefinitely with a back injury.Credit: AFL Photos
Weddle complained of back soreness after the win over North Melbourne at the weekend and scans confirmed the early stages of lumbar bone stress, Hawthorn’s head doctor Liam West said.
No time frame has been put on his recovery but West was hopeful Weddle would return before the end of the season.
“We will need to take some time to de-load Josh during this initial phase before we can identify just how long he will be sidelined for,” West said.
“Given how early the injury was discovered, we are hopeful he can return to play before the end of the season.
“While this is obviously disappointing for Josh, our priority right now is taking a careful and cautious approach to ensure Josh makes a safe return but as quickly as possible.”
Importantly, West said the hope was Weddle would return before the end of the season, not miss the rest of the year, indicating he could be back for the finals.
Hawthorn are currently in fifth place and pushing for a top-four double chance. In the next month they will play St Kilda followed by Fremantle in Perth, Port Adelaide in Tasmania then Carlton, with the Hawks favoured to win at least three if not all four games.
