Rioli blow leaves Hawks with climb

HAWTHORN’S hopes of salvaging something from this AFL season have been dealt an immense blow, with Cyril Rioli, Ben Stratton and James Frawley set for long stints out.

Rioli will miss up to three months after scans confirmed he suffered a high- grade posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) injury in the Hawks’ costly 38-point win over Brisbane.

Stratton will be out for at least a month with bone bruising in his knee, while fellow defender Frawley will be sidelined for at least two months because of turf toe.

“Stratts jarred his knee driving off into a contest and he’s got some pretty significant bone bruising,”Hawks performance manager Andrew Russel said.

“Cyril hurt his knee. It’s a fairly significant PCL injury and he could miss anywhere from eight to 12 weeks.”

Forward Jack Fitzpatrick, who was knocked out during the clash with Brisbane, will be assessed later this week before the Hawks face Collingwood at the MCG on Saturday.

Veteran Grant Birchall (knee) is still at least a fortnight away, while Jaeger O’Meara (knee) is running but yet to train.