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

[HR Roughnstuf]

All this discussion about his recovery time line, and no one is addressing the elephant in the room. How the f**k did he not get a free kick in the incident that ruined his knee?

lol. Who were the hawks playing….?

 

[grumbleguts]

lol. Who were the hawks playing….?

Geebullshit.

 

[Roddy]

Not even close mate, he's back running on the alter G and everything is going better than expected, the medicos are very happy with his progress, mid season is worst case scenario right now. He may even take part in elements of pre season in the new year once he starts ramping up his strength in the knee. Cleaning up his knee properly seems to have done the trick. Expect him back playing by June at the latest.

I badly hope you’re right, but I’ll believe it when I see it.

 

[Fleabane]

Sorry slight edit of course I mean some players are naturally stronger in the legs and quads when I referenced Newk (best set of quads going in the game since Lethal).

I did wonder what you were thinking!

 

[HairyO]

Not even close mate, he's back running on the alter G and everything is going better than expected, the medicos are very happy with his progress, mid season is worst case scenario right now. He may even take part in elements of pre season in the new year once he starts ramping up his strength in the knee. Cleaning up his knee properly seems to have done the trick. Expect him back playing by June at the latest.

You can be running quickly after an ACL. What you cant do is change direction at any speed for months.

Given his history it would be madness for the club to bring him back early. If he is ahead of schedule it should be used to further strengthen his body.

Another LTI would surely be a career ender.

 

[Simon Crawshay]

I did wonder what you were thinking!

Yes as typos go that one was a doozy!

 

[grumbleguts]

Sorry slight edit of course I mean some players are naturally stronger in the legs and quads when I referenced Newk (best set of quads going in the game since Lethal).

Brad Hardie's quads were impressive as well.

 

[kazzooka]

Not even close mate, he's back running on the alter G and everything is going better than expected, the medicos are very happy with his progress, mid season is worst case scenario right now. He may even take part in elements of pre season in the new year once he starts ramping up his strength in the knee. Cleaning up his knee properly seems to have done the trick. Expect him back playing by June at the latest.

His first run on the alter-g was I think a month ago too, and judging from Blank it was shortly after that the running on grass. I would not be surprised if we see Mitch out on the grass (in rehab group) next week as pre-season kicks off.

 

[kazzooka]

You can be running quickly after an ACL. What you cant do is change direction at any speed for months.

Given his history it would be madness for the club to bring him back early. If he is ahead of schedule it should be used to further strengthen his body.

Another LTI would surely be a career ender.

ACLs are such a well known injury now that rehab is pretty standard, and you move through well established checkboxes and tests. You may fly through some and take ages on others but the steps are clear. Blank for instance too a very long time to get to Alt-G running, despite having surgery 5 months before Mitch Lewis, infection and complication meant he was only a few weeks ahead of Lewis to get on the Alt-G.

Sam Butler who broke his leg in April (2 and a half months after Blank's ACL) was back on Alt-G before him and is already out running on Grass and expected to do a full pre-season.

 

[OsakaHawk]

His first run on the alter-g was I think a month ago too, and judging from Blank it was shortly after that the running on grass. I would not be surprised if we see Mitch out on the grass (in rehab group) next week as pre-season kicks off.

Mitchy posted a vid on instagram yesterday of himself running 200m repeats

 

[Brant]

His best can land him a 5-goal game.

If he can bring this every week, he's good for 110+ goals. Maybe more.

Probs nets him Coleman + Brownlow + Norm Smith.

 

[eldorado]

His best can land him a 5-goal game.

If he can bring this every week, he's good for 110+ goals. Maybe more.

Probs nets him Coleman + Brownlow + Norm Smith.

And after he establishes that baseline, we'll see where he can take it to from there...

 

[Brant]

And after he establishes that baseline, we'll see where he can take it to from there...

Trade for kID.

 

[Roddy]

Mitchy and Calsh....will be the new Bud and Rough, the new Derm and Dunstall.

Mark these words, you saw it here first.

 

[Strapping Young Lad]

Mitchy posted a vid on instagram yesterday of himself running 200m repeats

He was doing this yesterday, then laps with Sic before getting involved in drills as the player recieving the ball, then he’d handball to unsuspecting players who were about to go back and line up.

He’s looking super fit and super engaged.

 

[kazzooka]

Lewis shared another short clip of him running today. Looked to be straight line at full pace. He was flying.

So he's in phase 4 of ACL rehab which is retraining running technique (this is important prior to any change of direction, deceleration or arc type running) phase 4 also includes jumping and landing.

Then phase 5 is the agility type stuff before returning to play.

Odds are looking good for him to be able to play significant football in 2025. However it's not a matter of time it's a matter of ticking all the boxes without delay or issues like soreness requiring backing off etc.

 

[GinniAndTonic]

Do we reckon he'll be right for round 1? Seems to be well ahead in rehab.

 

[kirbatron]

Do we reckon he'll be right for round 1? Seems to be well ahead in rehab.

no chance

 

[KermitJagger]

I still think Mitch Lewis can be transformational to us. You take Mitch at his best and switch Gunston out last season, we're definitely making it past Port. We're probably making Top 4.

The way Mitch moves and gets up the ground when he's playing at his best, his kicking from 50, the way he leads up at the footy. If he can make the type of return from an ACL that Curnow has, this is what we've got to look forward to:



Every part of that highlight reel is the player we were crying out for.

 

[Sirlemsip]

If Mitch gets out on the field in 2025 our forward line is going to be one of the best in the comp.

An opponent must play their best 1 on 1 defender on Lewis. He can then use his tank to draw them out of the 50 on long leads.

Chol is a huge man with a huge leap and needs to be respected with the 2nd tall defender.

That leaves Dear with their 3rd best defender - good luck to whatever schmuk gets that job.

This is also without Sicily/Weddle/Battle switching into the forward line as well.

Teams will need to look to halve contests and bring the ball to ground... and that is where Wiz/Ginni/Croc/Moore will wreak havoc.

If Lewis can get fit and play 10 regular season games in 2025, top 4 is on the horizon.

 

[cryptor]

I still think Mitch Lewis can be transformational to us. You take Mitch at his best and switch Gunston out last season, we're definitely making it past Port. We're probably making Top 4.

The way Mitch moves and gets up the ground when he's playing at his best, his kicking from 50, the way he leads up at the footy. If he can make the type of return from an ACL that Curnow has, this is what we've got to look forward to:



Every part of that highlight reel is the player we were crying out for.

The goals he kicks from outside 50 in the second half of that video are ridiculously good.

 

[H00t]

I still think Mitch Lewis can be transformational to us. You take Mitch at his best and switch Gunston out last season, we're definitely making it past Port. We're probably making Top 4.

The way Mitch moves and gets up the ground when he's playing at his best, his kicking from 50, the way he leads up at the footy. If he can make the type of return from an ACL that Curnow has, this is what we've got to look forward to:



Every part of that highlight reel is the player we were crying out for.

Lewis at his best is great and his kicking has always been first class.

Where he has struggled is providing a consistent contest. Being a bit older now he’ll hopefully be able to be much more consistent.

More than marking the ball himself if he can not get outmarked he will give our forwards a lot more opportunities to score.

Where in the past he’s taken a few grabs and kicked a couple but also let his defender beat him a good number of times.

 

[eldorado]

Do we reckon he'll be right for round 1? Seems to be well ahead in rehab.

Nope.

I reckon round 8 may be a stretch, but something from round 11 onwards seems plausible based on his progress so far.

 

[MazHawk]

Heard he'll be brought back in round 12 or 13 (if all goes well) for a couple of games before our bye. Same source told me Mitch reckons he's feeling great with his recovery and wants to come back around 9/10.

 

[TheFourPillars]

end of June early July is the safe bet