DESPITE defeating Port Adelaide by 72 points at Aurora Stadium on Sunday, the news wasn’t all good for the Hawks as Cyril Rioli sustained a shoulder injury in the win.
The Hawthorn livewire left the field in the second term clutching his shoulder after colliding with an opponent during the second term of the match in Launceston.
He left the field to receive treatment, but the call was made during the break to end the small forward’s day prematurely.
Deep bone bruising is to blame for Rioli’s sore shoulder according to General Manager - Football Operations, Mark Evans.
“He’s a bit sore, he couldn’t lift his arm in the second quarter down in Tasmania,” he said.
“He’s got some deep bone bruising and some bleeding in and around that shoulder blade as well.
“That’ll take a little bit of time to settle down.”
Evans is unsure, however, just how long Rioli will be sidelined, but expects the Hawks to be without the pacey forward until finals.
“It’s really hard to call at this stage how long (he’ll be on the sidelines),” he said.
“We’re assuming it could be in the two to three week category.”
With the loss of Rioli, the Hawks are likely to be strengthened for Sunday’s clash with Gold Coast by the inclusion of spearhead, Lance Franklin.
Franklin has missed five matches with a hamstring injury sustained in the Round 15 win over Greater Western Sydney.
Evans admitted Franklin has missed more weeks than anticipated.
“The last two weeks I thought he was going to play,” Evans said.
“I’m expecting him to play this week.”
Evans delved into the reasoning behind the cautious approach with Franklin, revealing the full forward admitted that his hamstring wasn’t quite right.
A three step process is conducted behind the scenes in order to clear a player for return, with Franklin passing two of the three in the last two weeks.
Find out more about the three step process in the Injury Report video above.
“How the player themselves feel about it, what they say they can feel (is important),” Evans said.
“Last week, Buddy got to the end of training and said he didn’t think it was just quite right.
“That all leads to the fact that he should play this week.”
Defender Josh Gibson remains in doubt for the clash with the Suns, however, after rolling his ankle in the second quarter of the win over the Power.
“He’s okay, he was up and about yesterday,” Evans said.
“He obviously still needs some treatment on that ankle, so we’ll assess him across the course of the week.”
Injury list
Andrew Boseley (shoulder) - season
Jarrad Boumann (hand) - 2-3 weeks
Lance Franklin (hamstring) - test
Josh Gibson (ankle) - test
Luke Lowden (wrist) - season
Michael Osborne (knee) - season
Cyril Rioli (shoulder) - 2-3 weeks
Alex Woodward (knee) - season
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