The 19-year-old turned in a strong performance in last Sunday's 55-point win over Collingwood, earning a NAB AFL Rising Star nomination, but pulled up sore the following day.
As a result, he will miss Saturday's clash with Fremantle in Launceston, and is not expected back to face North Melbourne the following week.
"He played pretty much the whole game last week, but he felt some tightness early in the week when we were doing our screening of players," Clarkson said from Melbourne airport before the team departed for Tasmania on Friday morning.
"We thought we'd get him scanned just to check, and there was a bit more damage than what we thought, so he'll probably miss a couple of weeks.
"It's a bit unfortunate, because he worked really hard over the summer to get into the side and he was performing well for us."
The injury has allowed Anderson the opportunity to return home to Darwin to visit his new baby Elijah, born last week.
Anderson's absence has opened the door for veteran small forward Michael Osborne to play his first senior match in almost 12 months, out since he tore his anterior cruciate ligament during the Hawks' round seven clash with Melbourne last year.
Osborne's road back to the Hawthorn line-up has not always been smooth; his rehabilitation was initially slowed by excess swelling following surgery, and he was delisted at the end of 2012 to make way for free agent signing Jonathan Simpkin, before being re-listed via the NAB AFL Draft.
But in a show of faith from the coach, the 30-year-old has been picked to face Fremantle after just two games with the Hawks' VFL affiliate Box Hill.
"It's exciting news for our footy club, and certainly for 'Ossie'," Clarkson said.
"He did a lot of training over the summer with us, in terms of the 18 versus 18, so we think his match fitness is pretty good.
"He's an experienced player, an important part of our mix, and we're delighted to have him back."
Midfielder Brad Sewell will sit out a second week with his hamstring complaint, while key defensive recruit Brian Lake was left to spend another week in the VFL.
Clarkson said Sewell trained well this week and is on track for a return in round five, and Lake's selection chances hadn't been helped by the injury to Fremantle key forward Matthew Pavlich.
"With Pavlich going out of their side and them not replacing him with a taller type of forward, they're probably going to go with a different type of structure, so it (Lake's non-selection) was a little bit to do with the structure of the side," Clarkson said.
"He's played two back, another game at VFL level won't hurt him.
"But we recruited him to our club for a specific reason, so he's going to come into our side pretty soon.
"Just this week wasn't the week that we thought was the best case for our side."
