Nick Watson ruled out of Carlton clash as Conor Nash faces season-ending neck injury
Livewire forward Nick Watson is ruled out of Hawthorn’s big clash with Carlton, while Conor Nash continues to struggle with a neck problem that could end his season.
While defensemen Karl Amon and Jarman Impey were able to return from injury, the Hawks were conservative with Watson and left the star out for another week.
Watson missed last weekend’s poor defeat against Melbourne with a minor hamstring injury, but manager Sam Mitchell was optimistic he would return to the Blues.
“He ran 88 percent of his top speed on Tuesday, which is still faster than most of us,” Mitchell said before practice Thursday morning.
“But from a confidence perspective, we don’t think it’s worth taking the risk with him, so he’ll miss once again and be available next week.”
Nash has not played since round 10 due to a disc-related injury in his neck, affecting the strength and power of one of his arms.
“It’s quite complex… it’s quite unusual, so we had to go to some specialists; he went to Sydney during the week and got some more treatment,” Mitchell said.
“He’s definitely not going to play for a month now… but we don’t have a timetable, so realistically he could miss the rest of this season. He’s very frustrated.”
When asked if Nash could recover from this injury, Mitchell said he was adamant it would be “a matter of when, not if.”
“Worst-case scenario is he misses the rest of this season.”
Defenseman Josh Battle is recovering and will remain sidelined after having his appendix removed last week.
“The kids all say it’s man flu and he should be fine. But unfortunately he won’t be available either,” Mitchell said.
Impey (hamstring), Amon (knee), Max Beattie (ankle), James Blanck (hamstring) and Finn Maginness will be tested in training as the returns approach.
AAP
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