Fremantle's finals hopes are hanging by a thread after two more players succumbed to injury in the 51-point AFL defeat by Hawthorn at rain-drenched Patersons Stadium on Saturday night.

Dockers midfielder Rhys Palmer could miss the rest of the season after rolling his right ankle in a marking contest, while defensive forward Matt de Boer is expected to miss at least several weeks after damaging the medial ligament in his left knee.

To compound matters, ruckman Jonathon Griffin, a late withdrawal against the Hawks due to a hip injury, is no certainty to recover in time for Friday night's crunch clash with St Kilda, while Aaron Sandilands (toe) and David Mundy (leg) aren't expected to return either.

Despite still clinging to eighth spot on the table, Fremantle's finals chances appear slim, with the away encounter against St Kilda to be followed by tough assignments against Carlton, North Melbourne (away), Collingwood and the Bulldogs (away).

But coach Mark Harvey said it was too early to write off his team just yet.

"Well you're better off in that position (fighting for the eight) than sitting in the bottom tier," Harvey said.

"We've just got to fight our way through the situations now and see how the opposition do at the same time.

"We appear to have struck a patch in the draw where it's delivering all these top sides. So you have to ask the AFL about that."

Harvey played down the make-or-break nature of the upcoming clash with St Kilda.

"No (it won't decide our season) because there are still another four or five weeks after that," he said.

"Yes to win the game is important, but you've still got some chances beyond that."

Fremantle were woeful against the Hawks, conceding the first eight goals of the match as the visitors raced out to a match-winning 55-2 lead in torrential rain.

The only concern for the Hawks was a late ankle injury to midfielder Sam Mitchell, whose leg twisted awkwardly under the weight of Nick Lower.

However, Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson declared Mitchell a certain starter for Sunday's match against North Melbourne in Launceston, and said skipper Luke Hodge (knee) was also on track to play despite missing the win over Fremantle with a knee injury.

"I think he (Hodge) will be OK," Clarkson said.

"He got a knock early in the game against Melbourne last week.

"He played out the game but he had a little bit of swelling, we thought it would have dissipated by Thursday but we tried to train and it just wasn't quite right.

"So we just erred on the side of caution.

"Hopefully the swelling has gone down a bit and he'll be right to play."

Hawthorn's 13th win of the season moved them back above Carlton into third spot on the table - a position Clarkson hopes his team will be able to maintain in the run home.

"We know top-four is the best position to mount a premiership assault, so that's a clear goal for us," Clarkson said.

Although Lance Franklin was held goalless by Dockers defender Alex Silvagni, Clarkson was full of praise for the spearhead, who finished the match with 19 possessions, five tackles and three behinds.

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