The Hawks rejected the first two clearances but approved a third on Tuesday night.

McCarthy signed with the Hawks over the off-season, joining his brothers and sisters at the club, but requested a clearance home to Holbrook after recently losing his licence.

"We couldn't do much about it I suppose," EWK coach Matt Hard said.

"We were pretty keen to stand firm but it puts more time and stress on all of us I guess. He's made his intentions clear so we'll put it down to experience and move on."

Caleb Wild will join the Hawks' long casualty list and miss Saturday's clash with Northern Jets due to concussion.

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Jarrad Boumann was rated a 50-50 chance of playing after sustaining a calf injury in last week's win over Barellan. He will undergo a test at training on Thursday night.

"He's going to test it out so we'll see how that goes," Hard said.

The Hawks hope to regain centre-half-forward Wilson Thomas for the Jets clash at Gumly Oval.

EWK's casualty list includes the likes of Nico Sedgwick, Heath Northey, Dan McCarthy, Kieran McCarthy, Tom Pocock, Hayden Nelson, Scott Burge and Wild.

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