Hamstring duet sidelines stars

HAWTHORN will be without injured stars Cyril Rioli and Paul Puopolo for up to six weeks.

Rioli suffered a knee injury and Puopolo strained a hamstring in the Hawks’ resounding win over Melbourne at the MCG on Sunday.

Rioli drove his right knee into the turf in the second quarter as he tried to evade a tackle and didn’t appear after halftime.

It is the same knee that kept the four-time AFL premiership star sidelined after Round 8 last season.

“Cyril has a moderate grade medial ligament injury,” performance manager Andrew Russell said. “It is on the same side as his PCL last year but it’s a completely new injury, not related at all. It looks like it’s somewhere in the five-to-six week range at this stage.”

Puopolo injured his right hamstring chasing down and tackling Demons defender Jake Lever in the third quarter.

He limped off the ground clutching the back of his leg in discomfort, sparking fears he had suffered a severe injury that could require surgery.

“He’s probably pulled up a fraction better than we thought he may have ... it looked … pretty serious,” Russell said.