HAWTHORN’S Jarryd Roughead says he enjoyed playing as a ruckman in David Hale’s absence against St Kilda.

Hale injured his knee in the second quarter of Sunday’s win over St Kilda and immediately left the ground, leaving the ruck duties mainly to Roughead.

Usually a key forward, Roughead finished the game as one of the Hawks’ most influential players, winning 17 hit-outs while also gathering 20 possessions as his side came back from a 33-point deficit to run out 30-point winners.

The Hawks announced on Monday that Hale would miss 4-6 weeks with a meniscus tear to his right knee.

Roughead said he found contesting the hit-outs to be a refreshing change from his usual duties as a key forward.

"I don’t mind it. It’s a chance for me to get up the ground and have a bit of a run around and not expect the ball just to come to me," Roughead said on One HD’s One Week At A Time on Monday night.

"I can get up and have a bit of a run around and enjoy it up in the midfield."

Roughead said he had plenty of support from Hawthorn’s midfielders, who often jumped into ruck contests to be a third-man up.

"When the injuries happened, we had to change a few things. That was one of the things we did and it worked to effect, which was good," he said.

"They are backing me in to win it. That’s the other good thing, they give me the confidence to have a run and jump at it and hit it down their throat, which gives me a bit of confidence as well."

But Roughead hasn’t been disappointing in his role up forward, having kicked 12.4 at a ratio of 75 per cent this season.

It is a significant improvement on his past three full seasons, in which he has kicked 179 goals from 303 scoring shots at just 59 per cent.

Roughead said he had made a concerted effort to fine-tune his goal kicking over the pre-season.

"After last year, I did have to change a few things. The slow build-up wasn’t working so a bit more momentum going through the ball has been the biggest thing for me instead of just walking and having more of a chance of it skewing off the boot," he said.

"It’s been a thing that we’ve worked on for 18 months and it’s not going to work straight away but it’s starting off, which is good."