St Kilda midfielder Dan Hannebery is hopeful he has avoided another major hamstring injury after sending a scare through the Saints’ camp.

The vital veteran finished the Saints’ 18-point AFL victory over Carlton on Thursday night with ice strapped to his right hamstring.

Soft-tissue problems plagued his first season at Moorabbin after a trade from Sydney at the end of 2018, so it would have been a cruel blow to a buoyant St Kilda team relishing their third win of the season.

Hannebery is optimistic it is “only a minor thing”.

“”I was feeling good to go back on but unfortunately it was still pretty tight there so hopefully it’s not too bad,” he told Channel Seven.

St Kilda coach Brett Ratten said taking the 29-year-old off in the third quarter was a precautionary move and Hannebery might only miss one match.

The Saints are due to host Geelong at Marvel Stadium next Thursday night.

“We are hopeful it is not torn, he’s just pulled up tight,” Ratten said.

“We thought we wouldn’t take that risk (by putting him back on). With Dan’s history that (pulling up tight) was a real red flag for us.

“Dan will get a scan but the likelihood is he might miss next week but it’s not a tear so we will have to test him and see what happens there.”

It was the only sour note from another scintillating St Kilda display, with the Saints winning playing an attractive brand of football at a time when many have questioned the state of the game.

But Ratten isn’t getting carried away with the Saints’ 3-2 start to the unpredictable COVID-19 affected season.

“There were some things we worked on during the week that started to come out in our game,” Ratten said.

“The momentum of games now is shifting so quickly.”