HAWTHORN is confident its strategy of resting key players against the Gold Coast last weekend will pay off in Friday night's qualifying final clash with Geelong.

Luke Hodge, Lance Franklin, Shaun Burgoyne, Grant Birchall, Max Bailey, Brad Sewell, Jordan Lewis and Cyril Rioli all sat out the Suns match, which the Hawks still managed to win by nine points.

Hodge and his coach Alastair Clarkson both spoke confidently about the expected benefits of the decision on Monday.

"They (the eight rested players) had carried a fair load for us over the course of the season and we really needed them to freshen up," Clarkson said.

"I've got no doubt, given the demands of the season, that they'll appreciate the break from the rigours of preparing for a game, and then the recovery from that game.

"Hopefully they'll be jumping out of their skin for the Geelong game this Friday night."

The rested stars weren't entirely excused from hard work over the weekend, with Hodge revealing they'd been put through a testing running session on Saturday morning.

Even so, both mind and body were feeling fresh as preparations for Friday night began.

"To go for a week without getting the physical crash and bash of a game, you're always fresh and looking forward to training, and the big game this week," the Hawks captain said.

Clarkson said all eight would come back into the team this week, meaning he faced tough decisions at the selection table.

Although Saturday's narrow win provided "plenty of answers" about which players were in the Hawks' best 22, the premiership coach wasn't giving any indication as to who would make way.

"We'll work it out across the course of the week, we won't reveal it now," he said.

"You can't pick more blokes than the 22, so it makes it difficult that there's going to be some disappointed players.

"But that disappointment in a lot of ways is what drives and motivates the group.

"We know that we've got 28 to 32 players that can come in and make a contribution whenever we need them to, so that's been really pleasing."

Clarkson said Ben Stratton, who played his first senior game since seriously injuring his knee against Richmond in round three, was in the mix to retain his spot.

"He (Stratton) is a very, very important part of our back six, but we just need to work out whether or not that match conditioning is something that we need to be concerned about," Clarkson said.

"He's played two games back now (one of those for Box Hill).

"We'll just work out the balance of the Geelong forwards and see if he's got a suitable match-up for them, and then balance it up against the guys that have been playing there for the bulk of the year."

Hodge said Hawthorn's recent record against the Cats - they've lost all six meetings since their 2008 Grand Final triumph - hadn't dented the players' belief.

"We're confident that if we play to the best of our ability, we can match them," the 2008 Norm Smith medallist said.

"That's the same this Friday night.

"No matter who's out on the park, if we play the way we know how, we should go OK."