HAWTHORN has suffered a blow on the eve of its round five clash against the Western Bulldogs at the MCG, with sharpshooter Mark Williams set to miss the next four to six weeks with a knee injury.
And defender Danny Jacobs is also out of the round five team due to a hamstring problem. The Hawks have included Rick Ladson, Joel Smith, Tom Murphy, Josh Thurgood and Beau Muston in their extended squad.
Football manager Mark Evans said Williams could be sidelined until June, after he initially hurt his knee in round three.
"It's still early to tell (how long he will miss), but we really need to see what's happened in his knee after the arthroscopy, but he's probably in the four to six week category," Evans told hawthornfc.com.au.
"He's going to have an arthroscope on his knee, so he needs to have some floating debris taken out of his knee, but also have some attention to some of his cartilage and that operation will take place fairly soon.
"He caught up with a specialist today (Thursday) and it actually stemmed back to the Kangaroos game (in round three) when he had some pain in his knee and some swelling after the game.
"It settled down reasonably well before the Geelong game, but it hasn't settled since the Geelong game, hence the check-up with the specialist today."
Evans said Williams' knee had not settled since last weekend and was no longer manageable state to keep playing.
"It hasn't been right since the Geelong game last Sunday and he hobbled off the ground against Geelong, but then went back onto the ground, but it seemed to get worse during the game," Evans said.
Williams has been outstanding in recent weeks and has booted 13 goals for the season – all in the past three rounds – after he was held goalless in the opening round.
The Western Australian has led the club's goalkicking in the past two seasons, bagging 63 and 60 goals respectively in 2005 and 2006.
Evans said Jacobs would not be risked against the Bulldogs.
"He's pulled up tight in his hamstring, so we won't take a risk on that one," Evans said.
HAWTHORN v WESTERN BULLDOGSSunday, 1.15pm AEST, MCG
HAWTHORNB: Brent Guerra, Stephen Gilham, Brad Sewell HB: Rick Ladson, Luke Hodge, Campbell Brown C: Grant Birchall, Sam Mitchell, Jordan Lewis HF: Clinton Young, Lance Franklin, Chance Bateman F: Tim Boyle, Jarryd Roughead, Ben Dixon FOLL: Robert Campbell, Michael Osborne, Shane Crawford I/C (from): Xavier Ellis, Ben McGlynn, Tom Murphy, Beau Muston, Joel Smith, Simon Taylor, Josh Thurgood
In: Ladson, Smith, Thurgood, Murphy, MustonOut: Mark Williams (knee), Danny Jacobs (hamstring)
WESTERN BULLDOGS B: Jordan McMahon, Brian Harris, Dale Morris
HB: Lindsay Gilbee, Cameron Wight, Ryan Hargrave C: Nathan Eagleton, Scott West, Daniel Cross HF: Daniel Giansiracusa, Brad Johnson, Ryan Griffen F: Robert Murphy, Luke Darcy, Jason Akermanis FOLL: Will Minson, Matthew Boyd, Adam Cooney I/C: Dylan Addison, Jarrod Harbrow, Shaun Higgins, Sam Power, Farren Ray, Matthew Robbins, Tom Williams In: Akermanis, Cross, Power Out: -
