Player Watch Welcome to Hawthorn: Mitchell Lewis. Extended to 2026!

[MasterSamurai]

Kind of feared this. The more I look at the incident the more it looked likely that he had done something serious to his knee. His full weight just dropped straight on it as he landed . If we're in contention for finals this time next year, he'll be a big bonus for us but fah me, that's devastating blow for the young man.

 

[lethalselbow]

Horrible horrible news. Must be gutting for him.

We have the best knee surgeons in Melbourne, so hopefully he comes back in magic shape in mid/late 2025.

 

[Kuuz]

I think the only fair response to this cruel injury …

… is to burn GMHBA Stadium to the ground and dance on its ashes.

 

[Bedi]

unbelievable, just shattering

 

[The Jet From Poowong]

Really heartbreaking news for him and the club.

It just so happens we copped another serious injury against Geelong because of another ‘accident’ caused by their player

Fvcking cvnts

 

[Mercy Seat]

Far out, just awful for Mitch.

Take the Sic approach and rule him out next year too to get his knee 100% right for 2026 preseason.

Will be pretty tempting to bring him back late next year if we are in the finals mix.

 

[OnWardnUpWard]

Poor guy has had such a rotten run with injuries. It will be season 2026 by the time he is back in action.

At the ripe age of 27, in his prime to catapult us into the next 3peat. Believe.

 

[hawkheart]

When Mitch is a member of our next premiership team - and I have no doubt he can be - what a story that will be! You can do it Mitch.

 

[TylerDurden]

Remember Gawn had 2 knee recos before the age of 25.

 

[Sizzlesilk]

When he’s right… he’s right.

Mitch doesn’t need to miss any more time just for the sake of it. He needs carrots dangled for his own motivation.

Program will be laid out. Boxes will be ticked

Nick Murray did it July last year. Has played 6 matches - 2 SANFL & 4 AFL

Most had Chad ruled out all of this year & he’s been back 6 weeks.

It’s absolutely devastating for him.

 

[tiger_tough]

That's ****ed. Poor bloke.

 

[killerspud]

Will be the Max Bailey

Max Bailey

Age

37

Ht

206cm

Wt

100kg

Pos.

Ruck

Career

Season

Last 5

D

8.8

2star

K

4.3

2star

HB

4.5

3star

CL

2.5

4star

HO

19.1

5star

No current season stats available

D

5.8

2star

K

1.6

1star

HB

4.2

4star

HO

9.2

5star

of our n3xt flag team.

Recover well big fella

 

[Kuuz]

Yep - knee reco confirmed and rupture. Argh Lewis - I feel so sad for him, just bloody cruel timing. Arghhh man.

 

[A Diakos]

Really heartbreaking news for him and the club.

It just so happens we copped another serious injury against Geelong because of another ‘accident’ caused by their player

Fvcking cvnts

the club should make a formal request on the incident ....the Geelong bloke didn't get ball, hit him in the head and caused an acl....no free and no report

 

[Argy]

Gutted for him.

 

[tommyk72]

Any chance that all this stuffing around with rehab rather than just getting the surgery done earlier has means that this never healed properly?

 

[TheFourPillars]

the club should make a formal request on the incident ....the Geelong bloke didn't get ball, hit him in the head and caused an acl....no free and no report

It was in the marking contest the guy was going for the mark. It wasn't deliberate. Could have been a free but what does it matter Mitch has done his knee hopefully all goes well fir him over the next 12 months. Hope to see him back soon

 

[lethalselbow]

It was in the marking contest the guy was going for the mark. It wasn't deliberate. Could have been a free but what does it matter Mitch has done his knee hopefully all goes well fir him over the next 12 months. Hope to see him back soon

Yep. Was accidental. Very unfortunate.

Football is brutal, at times

 

[Nugett]

ACL according to Ch 7

How unlucky can a player get

Max Bailey springs to mind, with 3 ACL’s Can’t forgot the time he was sitting on the bench crying, when he did his third one. At least he retired as a premiership player though

 

[tendon]

So gutted for him. Silver lining if I had to find some is we will get more games into Calsher, into Jasper now that we may not have if Mitch was on the park. And really, we are a middle of the road team now so as terrible as this is, at least he’ll be back when we should be taking the next step and playing finals regularly.

I’m going to keep saying that till I believe it

 

[hawkman]

the club should make a formal request on the incident ....the Geelong bloke didn't get ball, hit him in the head and caused an acl....no free and no report

Would argue it should have been a free but nowhere near deserving of a report. Lewis came back into his space

The Duncan push a few years ago that caused Impey's ACL was dirtier than that

 

[Bugs1977]

Any chance that all this stuffing around with rehab rather than just getting the surgery done earlier has means that this never healed properly?

Has been my thinking even before he ruptured it. The initial injury was an ACL sprain and then the patella issue. The club said they were seperate issues but it's hard not to feel that his prolonged absence was from the original sprain. Such an awkward landing on a knee with an ACL that isn't structurally sound if that was the case was never going to end well. Hopefully after his reco he can put all this behind him and finally get a clean bill of health.

 

[toomanysquibs]

Yep. Was accidental. Very unfortunate.

Football is brutal, at times

One view seems to illustrate that the guy turned his head and hips and abandoned the ball as his target.

So he made a choice to brace for contact and not seriously try to mark or spoil. Lewis is wide open to get creamed.

Given the outcome you'd have think this automatically goes to the tribunal, to let them figure out the details.

Not saying the offender deserves weeks, but if you turn your head and hips and make a bump your priority and you're unco enough to whack a guy in the head and miss the ball you're culpable in some way.

Definitely a brutal game, but there's still rules.

Time for the AFL to either look at this, or we've got to seek clarification.

In the first image below he makes contact, the second just prior. The third prior to that. His eyes aren't on the ball in the first two because he's bracing and swinging that elbow horizontally.

But then look at the height of his right elbow in the third when the ball is there to be won. It's a foot below his left arm, perfectly positioned for a scything elbow to Mitch's head.

Two angles look OK, but one shows him never really getting his right hand/arm to marking height.

One guy is trying to mark the ball and his eyes remain on it. The other one lands a Tony Locket style elbow.

 

[toomanysquibs]

Would argue it should have been a free but nowhere near deserving of a report. Lewis came back into his space

The Duncan push a few years ago that caused Impey's ACL was dirtier than that

It's not as blatant as any of Plugger's big hits, but you can't Tony Locket a guy in front of you just because he's open for it.

Duncan's was dirty no doubt.

This was more calculated imo. Never made the ball his target.

Both were dog acts. The question I keep asking is, would our players have gotten away with either?

History suggests no.

 

[I wanna pash Nash]

Any chance that all this stuffing around with rehab rather than just getting the surgery done earlier has means that this never healed properly?

Hard to be 100% sure but would be more unlikely than likely. A lot of good research coming out showing the ACL can heal pretty well, the query however is still if it heals and keeps it's tension or if it heals lax. Mitch did his partial tear back in summer of 2022? That's a lot of time to test it out enough that his ACL was most likely pretty tight and good.

The fact that it took a fairly brutal MOI (mechanism of injury) and didn't just happen in open play is also a pretty good sign that his ACL was as structurally sound as most players.

Some players just get unlucky unfortunately.