THE WESTERN Bulldogs are sweating on scans to determine the severity of an injury to prized draftee Jake Stringer.

The 18-year-old rolled his ankle and was subbed off during the fourth quarter of the Bulldogs' one-point win over Hawthorn at Etihad Stadium on Friday night.

His departure from the ground sent a scare through the Dogs camp, given Stringer badly broke his leg as a junior.

But the injury was to the opposite leg to that which was broken.

Stringer, the fifth pick in last year's NAB AFL Draft, had started his first game in Bulldogs colours as the sub, and kicked a superb snap goal with his first kick before the mishap.

"It was unfortunate, because he was looking like he was going to get his hands on the ball," Bulldogs coach Brendan McCartney said.

"We'll get some scans and find out [the severity of the injury] quite soon; probably tomorrow morning."

McCartney said the Bulldogs would regain gun midfielder Adam Cooney for next week's clash with Fremantle in Mandurah, after he was rested from the drought-breaking win with a minor hip complaint.

And the Bulldogs coach said forward Shaun Higgins would sit out again next round, but would play the following week.

The Hawks had injury concerns of their own, losing ruckman David Hale and small forward Luke Breust to leg knocks – Hale to his ankle and Breust to the side of the shin. 

Coach Alastair Clarkson said neither injury was major, but the pair was no certainty of facing Richmond in Launceston next week.

"We just took them off as a precaution," he said.

"I don't think either are serious, but we might give them a rest next week, we'll just wait and see."

Clarkson said the Hawks would seek to re-introduce Grant Birchall, Luke Hodge, Shaun Burgoyne, Liam Shiels and Xavier Ellis in the lead-up to the season proper, along with last week's injured pair Cyril Rioli (ankle) and Paul Puopolo (knee).

He said both Rioli and Puopolo had progressed well in their recovery so far.

"They're going OK…we'll just wait and see whether [they're fit to play] next week or the week after," Clarkson said.

"They've both settled really pleasingly over the course of the week, but whether that plateaus or it continues to progress in the manner we'd like, we'll just have to wait and see."

Jake Stringer is a forward in AFL Fantasy. He did not play in 2012. Register your team at our AFL Fantasy hub.