AFL injury news: Tom Hawkins season could be over even in the best-case scenario

Even the best-case scenario for Tom Hawkins won’t please Geelong fans. JON RALPH has the latest on the star Cat’s foot injury.

A best-case scenario for Geelong spearhead Tom Hawkins might still put his season in doubt given the complications with a mid-foot sprain, according to leading sport medico Peter Larkins.

Larkins told the Herald Sun on Sunday the Cats would be worried about a lisfranc ligament sprain or a navicular issue for Hawkins, who hobbled off the ground against Carlton on Friday night.

Geelong said on Sunday it was doing its due diligence on his scans but it is understood he has escaped the worst-case scenario which would have instantly ended his season - and likely his career.

But while the Cats said his injury was in a different place to the issue of the 2022-23 summer, which Larkins believes was actually toe surgery, it could still end up as a season-ending injury.

Tom Hawkins on crutches post game. Picture: Getty Images

Hawkins is likely to retire at the end of the season so there is some chance he could have played his last AFL game while only four goals short of 800 career goals.

“He had toe surgery but this is the middle of the foot rather than the toe joint. This is more complicated,” he said.

“The lisfranc is a sprain of the ligaments in the middle of the foot, and the other concern would be a navicular fracture in the middle of the foot. They are both in the same location.

“A navicular fracture would be the end of the season for him. This wasn’t a contact or landing injury.

With the lisfranc the best case is a ligament sprain in the middle of his foot and the worst case is a stress fracture in the middle of the foot. Either way with a big heavy guy like that, a lisfranc can be two or three months.”

Hawkins’ season is in doubt. Picture: Michael Klein

Collingwood’s Jordan De Goey only missed a month with a mid-foot sprain in 2019 so the Cats will be desperately hoping for a similar diagnosis.

But Larkins says Hawkins would be extremely lucky to get back in that time period.

“With a low level mid-foot sprain you could argue it might style down over a four week period but it looked like he was too sore for a simple mid-foot sprain. He’s a big heavy guy, and if the scans show a bone injury the navicular comes into the conversation and a lisfranc issue is a concern. With both of those injuries you wouldn’t play in 2024 and that could potentially be the finish.”

Tom Stewart suffered a lisfranc issue in round 21 in 2021 and the Cats did not risk him.

Dane Swan and Matthew Richardson have both spoken about the difficulties of suffering the injury, with Richardson saying a lisfranc fracture was harder to recover from than his ACL tear.

Originally published as AFL injury news: Tom Hawkins season could be over even in the best-case scenario