Sport

Morrison ruled out for remainder of Hawks finals campaign

By Alexander Dabb

Sep 15, 2025

Benalla product Harry Morrison was last week ruled out of the remainder of Hawthorn’s finals campaign after further injuring his quad. Photo: AAP Image/Joel Carrett. Photo by JOEL CARRETT

Hawthorn will line up against Geelong at the MCG on Friday night in a blockbuster AFL preliminary final, but a Benalla product won’t be among those in brown and gold.

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Having been sidelined with a low-grade quad strain since facing Adelaide in round 21, Harry Morrison was last week ruled out for the remainder of Hawthorn’s finals tilt after the injury was worsened during a training session.

What was originally slated as a one-to-two-week strain saw Morrison miss the round 22 and 23 matches against Collingwood and Melbourne, respectively; however, Hawks high performance manager Peter Burge was at the time hopeful the midfielder would return for the final game of the home-and-away season against Brisbane.

Morrison was unable to prove his fitness in time to face the Lions, and again faced a test before ultimately not being considered for selection in the Hawks’ elimination final against GWS, with a view to returning if Hawthorn progressed deeper into the finals series.

But disaster struck before the semi-final clash against Adelaide, with Morrison further injuring the quad as he looked to step his training up to a full workload.

“Harry’s been working through rehab with his quad strain, and it’s been really stubborn and really slow, so we haven't been able to make any significant progress,” Burge said in an injury update on the club website.

“We felt we were slowly making progress. On the weekend (of the elimination final), we were just trying to step it up a notch in terms of speed and kicking, and he had a little incident in the session, unfortunately, during the weekend, which means now that it’s put him out for the rest of the season, and really, it has just told us that we needed more time.

“We were trying to get to a point where we could get him back into training, but we didn’t quite make it, unfortunately, and he’s now finished for the year.”

It’s a bitter blow for Morrison, who had played 20 of a possible 22 games this year up until he suffered the injury, having cemented his spot in a Hawthorn side that is now just one win away from a grand final berth after winning his place in the side back in the second half of last season, featuring in the final three rounds of the home-and-away season as well as both of the Hawks’ 2024 finals.

Hawthorn will face the Cats as it looks to punch its ticket for a first grand final appearance since sealing the famous three-peat in 2015.