ESSENDON is hopeful Jake Stringer has not suffered a fractured leg, but remains unclear on the severity of the forward's injury.  

The goalkicker was crunched in the Bombers’ forward half against Hawthorn on Friday night, with contact made to his right lower leg.

He couldn't put any weight on the leg as he was helped from the field, and immediately went down to Essendon's rooms for treatment.

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Stringer returned to the bench before three-quarter time and attempted to re-take the field, but was ruled out by the club during the final break.

"He's got a sore leg. They haven't been able to give us even a specific idea of what it is. He'll need a scan on it, it's pretty sore," coach John Worsfold said post-game.

"He tried to get back out there and couldn't, so we'll hope that it's nothing too serious."

Stringer suffered a horrific broken leg before he was drafted, but that was to his left leg. He had returned to Essendon's line-up after a minor hamstring strain in round 11.

It was Essendon's only major concern as they evened up their season at 6-6 with the 19-point victory over the Hawks.

The Bombers led by 38 points early in the final quarter before conceding three late goals, but Worsfold remained satisfied after turning around the game at half-time when they led by only three points.

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"I was pretty disappointed at half-time. The players were frustrated. We conceded a couple of late goals before half-time but we actually weren't playing very well. It felt as though it was Hawthorn's style of game that they wanted," he said.

"But some really good messages from the coaches at half-time around how to address that and they got a wonderful result."

It was Essendon's best score since round five – something Worsfold puts down to a combination of playing in better conditions, returning firepower and an improved chemistry – and the Bombers will need to lift again with a crunch fortnight ahead.

They travel to Perth next week to face West Coast on Thursday night, before returning to Marvel Stadium the following week to host another premiership contender Greater Western Sydney.

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"[It's] a massive challenge next week to get ourselves up [after] a six-day turnaround and a big game. It'll be a good challenge for us," Worsfold said.

Star Bombers forward Orazio Fantasia was pinched throughout the game by Hawks skipper Ben Stratton, but Worsfold couldn't be drawn on the issue, saying he didn't see the incident.