HAWTHORN star Cyril Rioli looks set to spend some time on the sidelines after injuring his hamstring in the opening minutes of Sunday’s win over the Sydney Swans.

Rioli limped from the ground at the eight-minute mark of the game and did not return for the rest of the day.

Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson said he expected Rioli to miss at least two weeks and possibly more.

“I dare say he will certainly miss next week’s game and how much longer he misses will be determined by the severity of the injury,” Clarkson said.

“But it didn’t look good in terms of being able to come back from the ground. He’ll certainly miss a couple I reckon.”

Clarkson said losing the exciting forward was a blow for the Hawks but admitted he gave it little thought throughout the game.

“Once you lose a bloke he is gone and you worry about that later on. He’s a pretty valuable little player for us of course but you lose a soldier and you have got to move on,” he said.

“We’ll assess him throughout the course of the week. The docs have already spoken to him and he’ll get scanned tomorrow and see where he goes from there.”

Rioli was one of many Hawks in the wars in the opening term. Luke Hodge hobbled from the ground with a slight knee injury and Xavier Ellis had to be helped from the ground after a Barry Hall tackle resulted in him bleeding from the face.

But both Hodge and Ellis came back on the ground to be big contributors to Hawthorn’s win.

Campbell Brown (knee) and Tom Murphy (illness) were late withdrawals from the team and were replaced by Ryan Schoenmakers and Travis Tuck.

“Those sorts of things happen in footy and you try to limit them as much as you possible can because it does have a tendency to unsettle your side,” Clarkson said.

“They acquitted themselves quite well and our defence under considerable odds at times.”