‘Long-term’ Hawks injury fear as soft tissue strikes Swan again in Opening Rd fallout

It was a scintillating start to the 2025 season, but there are injury fears on either side of Hawthorn’s 20-point victory over Sydney at the SCG.

There are syndesmosis fears for impactful Hawks midfielder James Worpel, while Swans veteran Taylor Adams is set to again be sidelined by a hamstring strain.

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On the cusp of half time, Worpel was brought to ground in a tackle and in the process, his right ankle awkwardly twisted as he was left in “real pain”.

It came after the 26-year-old set the tone early in Hawthorn’s nucleus, recording 11 disposals, six score involvements, five clearances and four inside-50s before half-time to give opposition coach Dean Cox headaches.

However, concerns over the midfielder’s ankle were confirmed coming out of the main change, with the Hawks’ medical team swiftly ruling him out of any further action.

Post-game, Fox Footy and Herald Sun reporter Jon Ralph shared the latest in potentially worrying news for the Hawks.

“Normal procedure is that if you can’t get through the contest, you don’t play the next week,” Ralph told Fox Footy from the SCG.

“I think Hawthorn will be much more concerned about a long-term injury for him. The mechanism as he was tackled there by Brodie Grundy, that does lend itself to a syndesmosis.

“Hawthorn tells me they’re not quite sure of the extent of it so far, but look, he was subbed out very quickly — only 10 minutes after the issue — and so clearly, for next week, you’d think he’d be out of the realms of possibility (to play).”

What does it mean for Hawthorn’s midfield? “(It’s) more likely Josh Ward comes in against Essendon there, but (he’ll have) scans, and let’s hope that it’s not a long-term injury in a contract year.”

“All I know at this stage is it’s an ankle, and I said (to Worpel): ‘Is it one of those (injuries where it’s) OK in a couple days, or one of those six-weekers’, and he said ‘I’ll be right’,” Hawks coach Sam Mitchell said during his post-match press conference.

“There was a moment where he looked like he was going to pop out of stoppage, and he ended up on the ground and limped off after that … I let the medical guys handle that.

“He’ll be a bit sore and sorry (tomorrow) like most of them are, and we’ll start the recovery process. Hopefully he’ll be back … he could play this week, or he could be out for a fair while — I actually don’t have an update yet.

“Hopefully he’s just rolled his ankle.”

Demons great Garry Lyon said: “Worpel is important. (Jai) Newcombe goes forward with (Will) Day, they become an offensive threat, Worpel not there makes that harder to do that, I think.”

Four-time flag-winner Jordan Lewis added: “And that injury is the unknown, isn’t it? When the foot buckles underneath the player. So you’re right, (he) just adds more depth … but he’s become a seriously good player, James Worpel.”

For the Swans, who are already missing Errol Gulden, Callum Mills and Robbie Fox in terms of midfielders and utilities, Taylor Adams went down with a hamstring injury that could lend itself to “time on the sidelines”.

“The real concern for Sydney is Taylor Adams,” Ralph said. “No one needs to remind him of the hamstring issues which saw him miss the 2023 premiership (with Collingwood).

“In this incident, (he) was pushed forward very quickly (and) grabbed at the hamstring. Sydney is saying that, at the moment, it’s only a tight hamstring.

“He’ll have scans in the next 24 hours, but you’d think that would lend itself potentially to a hamstring strain.

“After a really good pre-season (and) some heartbreak missing the finals last year, you’d think that Taylor Adams is most likely facing some time on the sidelines again.”