Young Essendon defender Tayte Pears remains in intensive care after needing major surgery on his pancreas.

Doctors are confident the 20-year-old will make a full recovery, but his season is most likely over.

Pears felt abdominal pain late in the evening after Friday night's loss to Hawthorn and told club officials at the Saturday morning recovery.

He was taken to hospital, where his condition declined rapidly and Pears underwent surgery on Saturday afternoon.

There were fears he had a torn pancreas and the operation showed it was inflamed and bleeding, with football manager Paul Hamilton calling it "a fairly major operation".

The Bombers are unsure how the injury happened, although Pears was hurt while trying to spoil in the first term.

"Tayte has an amazing constitution, he's a tough kid, but he started to get abdominal pain late on the evening of the game," coach Matthew Knights told Channel Seven's Game Day.

"He was operated on yesterday ... he's in intensive care for three days, he'll be in hospital for the whole week and possibly looks like maybe losing the rest of the season.

"He definitely won't move around too much for the next seven, eight weeks."

Pears' serious injury was an alarming postscript to an outstanding game of football on Friday night, which Hawthorn won by 16 points.

Hawks forward Lance Franklin produced one of the greatest goals in AFL history during the final term to turn the match for his team.

It was similar to another running goal Franklin had kicked a few minutes earlier, but even better.

"What was interesting about that was the first goal, he rolled through and then he identified on the second one (Jarrod) Atkinson had closed the goal mouth," Knights said.

"So he actually `flew' it in the air - it takes a fair bit of talent to do that, he analysed the situation both times really well."

The loss leaves the Bombers two games out of the top eight, but Knights remains upbeat about their prospects.

After the mid-season break they will play fellow bottom-eight teams Adelaide, Melbourne and West Coast.

"We've had certainly a tough stretch, but all games are tough," Knights said.

"There are some winnable games there and we have to get moving pretty quick."

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