HAWTHORN defender Trent Croad will have his injured ankle assessed before joining his teammates in what is likely to be a huge few days of celebrations following the Hawks' premiership triumph.

Croad limped from the MCG during the second quarter of the grand final and failed to reappear for the remainder of the match.

The newly annointed premiership player said he wanted to return but the severity of the injury made it impossible.

“I just tried to play my role and luckily the boys held up," Croad said.

"I’ll go after this and find out how bad it is. I thought about it (coming back on) but I got up to walk and I couldn’t.”

Croad was in doubt coming into the game owing to a foot injury he picked up in the first week of finals.

He missed the second half of the Hawks' qualifying final three weeks ago, and was restricted to static drills at the club's final training session on Thursday.

Croad was playing with a taped head after receiving a high knock in the first quarter. He started alongside Geelong forward Cameron Mooney and was playing on Tom Lonergan when the injury occurred.