The Hawks have suffered a massive injury blow with a Jarryd Roughead ruled out for the first half of 2016.

Hawthorn released a statement a short time ago announcing that Roughead has injured his PCL and will undergo surgery in the coming weeks.

Read the full statement below:

Hawthorn vice-captain Jarryd Roughead is expected to miss the first half of the 2016 season due to a PCL reconstruction.
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The four-time premiership player had been able to manage the injury previously, but experts have now advised the Hawks that surgery would be the best option.
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GM โ€“ Football Operations Chris Fagan said it was disappointing news for Roughead.
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โ€œWe found out this morning that Jarryd requires a PCL reconstruction, which means that heโ€™s not going to be available to play until somewhere in the middle of the season,โ€ Fagan said.
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โ€œThatโ€™s a fair stint out โ€“ somewhere between four to five months.
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โ€œHeโ€™s actually had a PCL injury for a long time, but in the past if itโ€™s got a little bit sore he just has a day off and it clears up and he continues to train and play.
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โ€œHe didnโ€™t miss any games with it last year, he had a perfect pre-season up until Christmas time, and for some unknown reason the kneeโ€™s got sore just lately, and not recovering when weโ€™ve given him a rest.
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โ€œWe needed to seek expert advice, and thatโ€™s the opinion we received this morning.โ€
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The 29-year-old is expected to undergo surgery in the next couple of weeks, with Fagan confident the key forward can bounce back and have a big impact in the second half of the season.
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โ€œRoughโ€™s had a few challenges in the last little while - this is just another one,โ€ he said.
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โ€œHeโ€™ll take that in his stride, and as he said to me the other day, heโ€™ll be really fresh in the second half of the year and canโ€™t wait for that to come around.โ€
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While Rougheadโ€™s absence will undoubtedly be a blow for the Hawks, it could present an exciting opportunity for a number of young forwards.
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Fagan said the door was open for some young Hawks to impress.
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โ€œIt does give some opportunities for some of our younger forwards like James Sicily and Tim Oโ€™Brien to step up, so weโ€™re really looking forward to seeing how those guys go, knowing that weโ€™ve got Rough coming back on-board mid-season,โ€ he said.

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