Rioli is expected to miss at least eight weeks after damaging a tendon in his left hamstring on Saturday, but the club is likely to  be extremely cautious with him. A 10-week rehabilitation would see Rioli start pushing for a return in the second week of the finals.

The initial assessment led the club to believe he would miss only three or four games, as he did after injuring the same leg against Sydney earlier this season.

Rioli missed nine games last season  with  a high-grade tear in his right hamstring,   returning to win his second premiership medal, and the 24-year-old has  reworked his running technique after several hamstring injuries.

He said after the game against Gold Coast that while the leg felt sore, the injury felt similar to the one he had sustained  against Sydney and he hoped to be back in a month.

Rioli was injured  in the last 10 minutes of the Hawks’ win over the Suns in Launceston, a win that lifted them  to the top of the ladder after Port Adelaide was beaten by Adelaide on Sunday.

Hawthorn football manager Chris Fagan said that while Rioli would miss eight to 10 weeks, he didn’t require surgery and wanted to play a part in the remainder of Hawthorn’s season.

“Unfortunately scans have indicated that Cyril has sustained a hamstring tendon injury, which is more serious than we first anticipated,” Fagan told the club’s website.

Rioli’s injury has come just as the Hawks have begun reducing their bulging injury list, with defender Josh Gibson still a month away after tearing a pectoral muscle, but with Sam Mitchell closing in on a return from a significant hamstring injury.

Youngster Jed Anderson’s season has been ended due to shoulder surgery, with Brendan Whitecross on his way back from a second knee reconstruction.

Billy Hartung, who debuted earlier this season, will miss another two to four games with an elbow injury.

With Alana Schetzer