SCANS have revealed St Kilda star Dan Hannebery will miss three weeks after he suffered a right hamstring injury in Thursday's win over Carlton.
The 29-year-old failed to return after coming from the field in the third quarter.
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After managing just five games in his first year at Moorabbin in 2019 due to persistent hamstring setbacks, Hannebery has played the first five games to start this season.
"It's pretty similar to Jonesy's (teammate Zak Jones) hamstring which it doesn't look like he's torn it, he's just pulled up tight," coach Brett Ratten said on Thursday night.
"With Dan's history that was a real red flag for us."
The Saints are hopeful Jones will return from a one-week lay-off next week in a match they're scheduled to play against Geelong but is yet to be confirmed due to the moving nature of the fixture.
Ratten had high praise for Jack Steele's head-to-head battle against Patrick Cripps and the growth of defenders Ben Long and Nick Coffield in setting up the five-goal half-time lead.
He was also proud of the way his side responded when challenged by the Blues during the third term when they closed the margin to 17 points.
"There were some things we worked on during the week that started to come out in our game," Ratten said.
"Game sense things, when you're in control, when you're not in control. The momentum of games now is shifting so quickly."
Counterpart David Teague pointed to a lack of intensity to explain the Blues' poor start.
"It looked like at the start of the game our absolute ruthlessness to be on wasn't quite there yet," he said.
"Having said that, we got our hands on it and fumbled."
Teague added he was most frustrated by the level of Blues' decision making and ball use that proved costly gifting easy Saints goals.
Both coaches said they were yet to be informed which state they will be sent to as all Victorian clubs prepare to enter quarantine hubs due to COVID-19 either next week or the week after.
