Hawthorn defender Changkuoth Jiath will miss Hawthorn's practice match against the Bulldogs on Thursday night after reporting hip soreness from training on Tuesday.
Jiath has been cruelled with soft tissue injuries in his AFL career, with repeated hamstring and calf concerns inhibiting his consistency on the field.
The electric speedster headed to Qatar's Aspetar Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Hospital in Hawthorn's previous pre-season to gain education on rehabilitation measures to promote injury prevention in the future, however Jiath frustratingly re-injured his hamstring in April.
Jiath came back into the side with some consistency for the majority of the season thereafter, appearing in 11 straight games, but missed the final three weeks of action after reporting calf soreness and failing to break into a solidified Hawks unit.
Still analysing the seriousness of the injury, the Hawks are yet to rule Jiath out of their Opening Round clash against Sydney at the SCG, but he will not participate in Thursday night's trial run in Launceston.
"After sitting out last Monday's match simulation in Geelong, Changkuoth trained fully across the week, including yesterday's main session," Hawks footy boss Rob McCartney said.
"Unfortunately, following that session Changkuoth has pulled up with a sore hip and won't be risked in tomorrow's practice match
Meanwhile, the Hawks have decided to rest defensive duo Blake Hardwick and Jarman Impey for this week's meeting with the Western Bulldogs.
"Both Jarman and Blake have put together wonderful pre-seasons, playing uninterrupted across all practice matches and match simulation to this point," McCartney said.
"Given their experience, we felt it best to manage their loads ahead of next Friday's Opening Round game in Sydney."
Hawks recruit Tom Barrass as well as second-year youngster Nick Watson will suit up in Tasmania after missing Hawthorn's previous pre-season bout against Geelong, while Luke Breust has been left out of the side to play for Hawthorn's VFL affiliate Box Hill in a scratch match versus Footscray on Friday.
