A blow to an arthritic knee forced Essendon captain James Hird to sit out most of the last quarter of the narrow AFL win over Hawthorn.

Essendon fitness coach John Quinn revealed the nature of the injury.

The Bombers have not included their skipper on their weekly injury list. They are hopeful he will be fit for Saturday's match against Geelong.

"Hirdy's got a bit of an arthritic knee and he got a direct knock on that and a bit of swelling there, even during the game," Quinn told Sport 927.

"He was very sore and proppy."

Hird left the field early in the last term, but returned late in the match and coach Kevin Sheedy later admitted the Brownlow Medallist should have stayed on the bench.

Bombers defender Ty Zantuck will also miss 4-6 weeks with a stress reaction in his shin after he was a late withdrawal from the game.

Meanwhile, Josh Thurgood would probably have suffered an injury regardless of whether Matthew Lloyd wore an AFL-approved arm guard, according to Hawthorn captain Richie Vandenberg.

Thurgood had surgery to fix a depressed fracture of the cheekbone and Hawthorn teammate Danny Jacobs also was in hospital to have a metal plate inserted for a hairline fracture in his jaw.

Lloyd collected Thurgood with his protected forearm in the first quarter of the match at the MCG.

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