UPDATE
It’s a confirmed ACL rupture for James Blanck, who is all but certain to miss the 2024 season in its entirety.
Hawks footy boss Rob McCartney confirmed the news to SEN shortly after the conclusion of the club’s intra-club match where Blanck went down.
Blanck, 23, solidified his spot in Sam Mitchell’s side in the back half of 2023 as a key defender and now had 24 appearances to his name.
It followed a hamstring injury to Changkuoth Jiath, with the club still waiting on scan results.
“The intra-club brought about an injury to both James and Changkuoth,” McCartney said on SEN’s The Run Home.
“Unfortunately James has had his scans and they’ve come back with the disappointing news that he’s ruptured his ACL.
“We’re feeling for the young lad. The one thing this kid is amazingly diligent, and he’s had to work hard the whole way through, he’s had nothing gifted to him.
“We know he’ll get into his rehab, and we’ve had examples of blokes going through their ACL rehab and coming back better - James Sicily is the best example of that most recently.”
As for Jiath, he hurt his hamstring which is an injury not related to the groin and pelvis issues he sought specialist advice for in Qatar over the off-season.
“Changkuoth has injured his hamstring. We’ve sent him for a scan, we just don’t have the results of that yet,” McCartney added.
“The injury he went overseas for was around the groin and pelvic region that he needed to have assessed. That’s been really good since he returned.
“This is an injury not related to the previous injury.”
EARLIER
Hawthorn have suffered some potentially devastating injury blows during Thursday’s intra-club match at Waverley Park.
Reports came through earlier on Thursday morning that Changkuoth Jiath suffered another hamstring injury just months after he travelled to Qatar to help manage calf and Achilles issues which cruelled his 2023 campaign.
On top of Jiath’s concern, reports are now emerging that key defender James Blanck went down with a knee injury.
Key defender James Blanck has now limped off in the hands of trainers with a knee injury https://t.co/gjvxVLjZbN
— Mitch Cleary (@cleary_mitch) February 15, 2024
Blanck was taken from the field in the hands of trainers after suffering the injury and SEN’s David King described the moment live while speaking to Sam Edmund on SEN Mornings.
King described the intra-club as a “horror session” and that the injury was to Blanck’s left knee.
“Oh, we’ve got another player who has just gone down here grabbing a knee,” King told SEN Mornings.
“This is a horror session at the moment, the whole session has stopped, this is awful.
“It could be another season-ending injury that occurred on the far wing.
“The game stopped, the whole thing has stopped.
“He’s getting up and being carried off, the medics have got to him now.
“It’s a left knee injury.”
The 23-year-old joined Hawthorn via the 2022 Mid-Season Draft. He played 15 games in 2023 and has played 24 career games in the brown and gold.
Hawthorn begin their 2024 season with a Round 1 clash against Essendon at the MCG on Saturday, March 16.
