Suspended Hawthorn star AFL forward Lance Franklin says he has no choice but to wipe the bump from his game.

The Hawks star missed games through suspension on three separate occasions last year and was forced to sit out Friday night's MCG clash with Essendon for a high bump on Gold Coast's Maverick Weller last round.

With several past sanctions for similar offences, the athletic tall forward acknowledged he had to change his approach.

"I've just got to take it out of my game, I'm missing games because of that," Franklin said on Melbourne's SEN radio.

"I love playing footy and I love getting out there, I'd love to be there tonight, but I'm obviously not because of the bump, so I'm going to take that out of my game."

The 196cm forward said he needed to be smarter in his approach and realise that if he charged full speed towards a smaller opponent and collided with them, there was a chance of head contact and a suspension.

"It's more the tackling (I need to do instead), you've just got to put your arms out, especially for me or anyone that's taller," Franklin said.

"You've just got to slow yourself down and go for a tackle, rather than go as fast as possible and at the last minute tense yourself.

"The tackle's definitely got to come into my game and probably more me than anyone else.

"If any elbow or shoulder hits the head you're looking at weeks, so as for that, I deserve the one week."

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