HAWTHORN captain Luke Hodge is facing a race against time to be fit for Saturday's clash with Fremantle, with the club saying the Norm Smith medallist's knee is not recovering as fast as expected.

Hodge got a knock to the knee during the Hawks' round six win over St Kilda, which kept him out of last week's 66-point thrashing of Melbourne.

He will face a test ahead of selection this week, but Hawks football operations general manager Mark Evans told hawthornfc.com.au on Wednesday that the 27-year-old, "Probably [hasn't stepped up his training] as much as we'd thought at this stage."

Key defender Josh Gibson appears a strong chance to return from two weeks out with an ankle injury.

"He (Gibson) was pretty close last week," Evans said.

"He's obviously got a reasonable training session to get through tomorrow, but if he comes through that OK he'll play."

Michael Osborne underwent a traditional knee reconstruction on Tuesday night to repair the anterior cruciate ligament he tore against the Demons.

The small forward left hospital on Wednesday and will now spend a week at home recovering before returning to the club to begin his rehabilitation.

Evans said the Hawks and Osborne, in consultation with a specialist, weighed up all options as to how best to treat the injury before deciding on the traditional reconstruction.

"He had some damage to the lateral ligament as well, but there was very little other damage in the knee - no surface cartilage problem, and no great issues with anything else in the knee," Evans said.

"Because of that, he's going to get a very good outcome from the traditional surgery."

Fellow 2008 premiership player Chance Bateman is facing an estimated four to six weeks on the sidelines after undergoing surgery on Monday night.

The 30-year-old wingman suffered a separation of the collarbone from the sternum while playing for the Hawks' VFL affiliate Box Hill on Saturday.

Ruckman Max Bailey, out since the NAB Cup with a wrist injury, is awaiting approval from his specialist to remove his brace and resume ball work.

Evans said the 206cm big man had been able to continue on a heavy running program during his recovery, which should ensure he was able to regain match fitness quickly once cleared to start training.

Mark Macgugan covers Hawks news for AFL.com.au and hawthornfc.com.au. Twitter: @AFL_MarkM.