Hawthorn star Chad Wingard has a lacerated tongue and needs surgery after the Hawks' AFL loss to GWS.
Wingard was taken to hospital after halftime of Sunday's game at Norwood Oval after suffering the gruesome injury.
He was scheduled to fly back to Melbourne on Sunday night with team support staff and have the operation.
"That sounds horrible to me," Hawks coach Sam Mitchell said.
"I can imagine it's not feeling great for him ... lacerated tongue surgery sounds nasty to me."
Meanwhile, North Melbourne have confirmed co-captain Jy Simpkin suffered a broken hand in Saturday's humbling loss to Brisbane at Mt Barker in the Adelaide Hills.
Simpkin will have surgery on Monday and the Kangaroos will then have a better idea of how long he will be out of action.