HAWTHORN'S big man stocks have suffered yet another blow, with ruckman Brent Renouf set to be sidelined for a number of matches after having surgery to remove his gall bladder.

Renouf left the field with 15 minutes left in the Hawks' loss to Geelong on Saturday night after receiving a knee to the midriff in a ruck contest.

The 23 year-old courageously returned to the field when teammate Jarryd Roughead injured his Achilles a short time later, but was taken to hospital after the match.

Doctors initially diagnosed bruising to Renouf's liver, but tests revealed further damage.

"The pain was persisting and they detected some leaking around his gall bladder," Hawks football operations general manager Mark Evans told hawthornfc.com.au on Wednesday.

"His gall bladder was leaking bile and causing an infection, so the gall bladder was removed late yesterday afternoon.

"It's not unusual for people to have a gall bladder removed, but certainly it's something we need to be mindful of that he's now had some surgery that he'll need to recover from."

Evans was unable to predict how long Renouf would be on the sidelines.

"It won't be just a couple of weeks," he said.

"It'll certainly be a number of weeks."

Renouf joins key defenders Stephen Gilham and Ben Stratton, plus Roughead, as Hawthorn big men on the club's growing injury list.

Roughead had surgery on his ruptured Achilles on Wednesday morning, with Evans reporting that early indications were the operation was successful.

The star forward, who also had success in recent weeks changing in the ruck, has already been ruled out for the rest of this year.

And there's no guarantee he'll be back for the beginning of the 2012 season.

"We'll probably leave that question unanswered until we have a better understanding," Evans said.

"You don't see a lot of Achilles tendon ruptures in the AFL.

"So our first port of call will be to collect more information about the best management practice."

Evans said the versatile former No.2 NAB AFL Draft pick would spend the first part of his recovery in a cast or moon boot to immobilise the repairing tendon.

In other injury news at the fourth-placed Hawks, Brent Guerra faces a test to determine whether he'll make the trip to Tasmania to face Gold Coast on Saturday.

Guerra suffered a perforated eardrum in a behind-the-play incident involving Geelong's Joel Selwood that saw the Cats midfielder suspended for four weeks by the AFL tribunal on Tuesday night.

"He [Guerra] has improved, but we'll still make an assessment tomorrow as to whether he's right to play," Evans said.

Line-breaking left-footer Clinton Young, who was subbed from the ground against Geelong with a hamstring problem, is not expected to be out of action long.

"He had some hamstring tightness and was running at about 75-80 per cent," Evans said.

"It's on quite the minor side of things and he was walking no problems the next day, but we'll see where he gets to over the next week."

Importantly, in Roughead and Renouf's enforced absence, fellow ruckman Max Bailey will be available for selection this week after withdrawing from the Geelong clash with a corked quad.

And Evans reported that star forward Lance Franklin, who missed the round 11 clash with Fremantle with an injured calf, pulled up well from his return match on Saturday night.

Mark Macgugan writes for hawthornfc.com.au and covers Hawthorn news for afl.com.au. Follow him on Twitter: @mmacgugan