Defender Gilham was carried off during the first quarter of his team's 30-point win over St Kilda yesterday while ruckman Hale suffered a similar fate a short time later.
With Gilham certain to miss the rest of the season with a ruptured ACL and Hale facing an as yet undetermined stint on the sidelines with a suspected torn meniscus, midfielder Jordan Lewis expects more young players to get an opportunity.
Young Hawks Isaac Smith, Paul Puopolo and Luke Breust have all made impressive debuts in wins over Port Adelaide and the Saints in the past two rounds.
"To have two guys go down like that is obviously a big loss, but we've got a couple of guys who can probably step into those spots," Lewis said from Waverley Park on Monday.
The Hawthorn vice-captain said 204cm 2008 draftee Luke Lowden and 2009 selection Sam Grimley are both a chance to replace Hale, as is injury-plagued Max Bailey, who continues to make good progress in his return from a third knee reconstruction.
"He [Bailey] is really coming along well," Lewis said.
"I think he's playing more game time each week [at Box Hill].
"He'll come into contention this week [depending on] how he pulls up from the weekend.
"He's a great ruckman so it'd be good to have him in the side."
Lewis predicted Ryan Schoenmakers, who managed just six games in 2010 for a career tally of 17, would vie with untried Jordan Lisle for the key defensive post vacated by Gilham.
Earlier in the day, Hawks football operations general manager Mark Evans confirmed on radio 1116 SEN that Gilham's season is over.
"We think that Gilham's got an ACL rupture," Evans said.
"We'll discuss the management of that and assess his swelling over the next 24-48 hours and work out where we go from there, but that's his season gone unfortunately."
It appears likely the 26 year-old will undergo a traditional knee reconstruction after Evans said he doubted the radical LARS surgery, which has seen players with similar injuries return to playing within 12 weeks, would be beneficial.
"My initial thoughts and some discussions I had last night, I'm not sure that [LARS surgery] will help him get back into this season, so we'll assess that today," Evans said.
Evans said initial symptoms suggested Hale has a meniscus tear, which can sideline a player for as little as two or as many as eight weeks, depending on its severity.
"His knee locked and didn't release for quite a bit of time after that injury, so we suspect that that's a meniscus tear," he said.
"He'll have an arthroscopy today where we'll check to see what else is going on in there, so we'll wait on those."
Evans also reported that Puopolo, who played in pain after receiving a heavy kick to the shin yesterday, would be fit to play this week.
Cyril Rioli, who has had three weeks off with a minor hamstring injury suffered against Geelong on Easter Tuesday, is also a chance to return to face the Sydney Swans at the SCG on Sunday.
