AFL high-flyers Hawthorn will determine in the next few days how best to fix defender Ben Stratton's knee after a posterior cruciate ligament tear was discovered on Sunday.

Scans showed Stratton has ruptured the ligament which in part keeps the shinbone from moving too far backwards in the leg.

Stratton, who dislocated his kneecap in a third quarter collision during the Hawks' 63-point win over Richmond at the weekend, was stretchered from the MCG and taken to hospital.

Initial fears were he could miss up to 12 months of football depending on the damage to the ligaments and tendons underneath.

But while the anterior cruciate ligament - the most common source of long-term angst for elite footballers - was intact and uninjured, the much more resilient posterior was found to be ruptured.

It is an injury which more commonly occurred in ruckmen until recent AFL rule changes to limit their run-ups at the centre bounce.

Hawthorn says the next move for treating Stratton's injury is uncertain.

"The club will get specialist views on management over the next day or so," Hawthorn said in a statement.

Coach Alastair Clarkson is fortunate to have substantial depth to cover Stratton, who at the very least faces several weeks on the sidelines.

Clarkson said Tom Murphy, who had a delayed start to the season after a pre-season ankle injury, was most likely to replace him for the Hawks' clash with West Coast in Launceston next Saturday.

And midfielder Sam Mitchell, who was a late withdrawal from the weekend's match for family reasons, looks certain to return.

"He probably could have nearly played irrespective of what was going on family-wise, but it was a six-day break," Clarkson said.

"He pulled up sore throughout the course of the week and he couldn't train and prepare as well as he usually does.

"We just thought it wasn't a week to take an enormous risk with him.

"We'll see how things go over the course of this week, see how it all settles and hopefully we can get things back into a little bit of a routine for him and everything will be okay leading into next week's game."

Fremantle are likely to find out on Monday the extent of an eye injury to ruckman Aaron Sandilands.

The giant ruckman was accidentally poked in the eye by Adelaide's Richard Tambling in the Dockers' win on Saturday.

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