Tom Mitchell is “most likely” to miss the entire 2019 season, Hawthorn says.

And leading sports medico Dr Peter Larkins agrees.

The Brownlow medallist will have surgery after suffering a broken leg at training on Friday.

He was taken to hospital in an ambulance, breaking both his fibula and tibia bones.

And it’s the tibia that’s of most concern.

“That’s the critical one where there’s been some really significant impact on player’s careers in the past,” Dr Peter Larkins told Sportsday.

“We normally look at time frames – anything from 9 to 10 months is usually the best case sceneraio for players to return and some really struggle to come back – like Nathan Brown and Matt Maguire.”

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Channel 7 sports reporter Sean Sowerby said Mitchell was a chance to skipper the Hawks in 2019 after Jarryd Roughead stepped down at the end of last season.

“They haven’t announced a captain as of yet,” he told 3AW Drive.

“It’s a massive blow because he’s a fantastic leader – he was a chance to skipper the side.”

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