Hawks suffer injury setbacks

Illawarra’s Mason Peatling is facing an extended stint on the sidelines following a cheekbone fracture suffered in Saturday’s win over South East Melbourne.

Peatling clashed heads with teammate Todd Blanchfield in the third quarter of the victory, but the severity of the issue was only revealed once the game was over.

The 26-year-old arrived at the Hawks following three seasons with Melbourne United.

Guard Hyunjung Lee is also in doubt for Thursday’s game against Tasmania due to illness.

“Luckily enough we’ve got a deep team,” head coach Jacob Jackomas said via the Illawarra Mercury. 

“With all the talk of how many guys we play, we’re able to play eight or nine guys right now because we’ve kept guys involved.

“It’s unfortunate for Mason – I thought he was doing really well. I’ve been really happy with him, we really needed someone like him, just a solid role player who knows who he is.

“We’re going to miss him.

“We don’t know what’s going on with Lee, he’s a bit sick right now but we do have a next man up mentality.”

The Hawks currently sit eighth on the ladder with a 1-1 record, and are set to play Tasmania on Thursday night before travelling to Adelaide to face the 36ers on Saturday.