Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson is happy to continue the intrigue over whether highly-rated signing Tom Scully will debut for his new club against the Western Bulldogs at the MCG on Sunday.
The decision will likely be made on Friday after consultation with the club’s coaching and medical staff.
Scully, who hasn’t played since round two in 2018 after severely damaging an ankle with the GWS Giants, joined the rest of the Hawks squad for a light workout at Waverley Park on Friday morning.
“We’ll make our determination today whether he plays or not,” said Clarkson.
“He has spent the best part of the last six to eight weeks in performance phase to get himself ready to play and we have to make the choice whether he’s ready.
“It’s always difficult when a guy is returning from a long-term injury which side he plays in, how much time does he need.
“It has been 12 months, which is a long time to miss. We deliberately held him back last week after a heavy training block and he’s really fit and ready to go.
“But he hasn’t been subjected to significant match pressure and we have to take that into account.”
The Hawks have the option of playing Scully in a practice match with VFL affiliate Box Hill Hawks at Werribee over the weekend and Clarkson insisted he’s ready to play again.
“It (recovery) hasn’t staggered us because we did all our due diligence with all the scans and that stuff. He’s such a pro and the thing is he hasn’t had any games over the 12 months as the lure to get him back,” the coach said.
“With GWS, they were hoping to get him back for finals and there’s always that dangling carrot, but his ankle just wasn’t ready for the load and that’s why he couldn’t get back.
“We were always confident if we were just patient.”
And Clarkson is wary of the Bulldogs midfield, in particular, the centre clearance capacity led by Marcus Bontempelli.
“They have always been really strong around the centre of the ground with their capacity to win the ball, their contested ball numbers are always really, really high,” he said.
“Every game is generally won or lost in the midfield, but this game in particular is going to be a critical part.”