Brisbane’s hopes of Eric Hipwood playing a part in this year’s finals campaign are up in smoke.

It has come to light that the big forward has a partial tear in his ACL and has no hope of returning this year ... even if the Lions somehow recover from Friday night’s loss to Geelong and make the grand final.

It was an unexpected blow for the Lions.

Hipwood had been listed as having a calf injury but, when he recently went to have scans, there was a shock twist in the results.

The results came back and showed a partial ACL tear to the same left knee he previously suffered a full ACL rupture in 2021.

He will now undergo another surgery to repair the knee, with the Lions saying the operation will take place this week “to give him the best chance to return to playing as early as possible

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