AFL 2024: Hawthorn’s Jack Scrimshaw in bid to face North Melbourne
Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell is prepared to roll the dice on an important defender to secure a return to finals action.
AFL
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Hawthorn defender Jack Scrimshaw trained with a glove on his damaged hand on Thursday as the Hawks try to field their strongest possible side against North Melbourne.
Saturday’s clash in Launceston will be the last of the Hawks’ pseudo-elimination finals as coach Sam Mitchell acknowledged he had sounded like a broken record during the tight race for a top-eight spot.
Scrimshaw, who dislocated his finger and underwent surgery following the Hawks’ win over Richmond, is set to be named in the side to face the Kangaroos after trialling a protective glove at Waverley Park this week.
Changkuoth Jiath will miss another match due to his calf complaint, while Lloyd Meek battled illness this week but is expected to travel to Tasmania.
“Scrim, we’re not sure – (on Thursday) we’ll see how he goes. He had to have a clean-out (procedure), so he has a nasty cut,” Mitchell said.
“He’ll wear some bandaging, I think he might wear a glove for part of the session and see how it feels functionally.
“If he functionally can use it, then he’ll be available for selection.”
Hawthorn can still advance to the finals if it loses to North Melbourne and four-time premiership coach Alastair Clarkson but would require either Fremantle to lose to Port Adelaide or St Kilda to defeat Carlton without the Hawks’ percentage falling lower than the Blues.
Mitchell would not be drawn on the finals prospects of Jiath and star midfielder Will Day (dislocated collarbone) before a spot was secured.
“(Day) is unavailable this week and there’s no guarantees after that. There’s no surgical intervention needed, so he doesn’t need anything except to feel good enough to play,” Mitchell said.
“At the moment, it’s just pain and soreness that’s hurting him. He can actually move it OK, but it’s just very, very tender and sore to the touch or any movement.
“As soon as he gets that (pain tolerance), he’ll be available.”
Mitchell said there was a “beauty” to the round 24 clash being a farewell game for his triple-premiership teammate Liam Shiels after he spent his final two years at Arden Street under Clarkson.
“There’s a lot of stories in sport, isn’t there? Even for Liam Shiels, for him to play his final game with the two teams he played for – there’s a bit of beauty to that,” he said.
“For us, I’ve been saying it for what feels like a long time now, but everything’s a final.
“We know that if we win, we’ll play finals footy, so the incentive is there … that peripheral stuff, we’ll leave it just there.”
The coach pushed for the All-Australian selectors to include two specialist wingmen as he said impressive recruit Massimo D’Ambrosio “deserved to be in the conversation”.
“My preference with the All-Australian team is that they just pick the best players for the positions … I hope (Massimo is picked), it would be a great story if he was,” Mitchell said.
“I would assume that Errol Gulden has one wing, and if I had to guess they’ll put a midfielder out on the other wing despite him probably never playing on the wing for the majority of the season.”
Originally published as AFL 2024: Hawthorn’s Jack Scrimshaw in bid to face North Melbourne
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