HAWTHORN will head to Launceston to face North Melbourne this weekend without Changkuoth Jiath or Will Day, while ruckman Lloyd Meek and defender Jack Scrimshaw are in doubt ahead of the clash at University of Tasmania Stadium.

Jiath will miss a third straight game due to calf tightness after missing the wins over Carlton and Richmond, either side of inking a three-year contract extension. 

Meek spent the early part of the week away from the club due to illness but trained on Thursday in a bid to prove his fitness for the final game of the home and away season. 

After undergoing surgery on Sunday night to repair the badly dislocated finger he suffered against the Tigers, Scrimshaw trained with a glove at Waverley Park.   

"CJ won't be (available this weekend). He can run 75 per cent but as soon as he gets a little bit quicker than that, he doesn't quite feel good enough at speed, so the risk isn't quite worth taking with him," coach Sam Mitchell said on Thursday. 

"If I'm really honest, I thought at the start we were being super conservative not playing him in the first game. The first game he missed he was a bit tight at training. It was really a lineball call whether he played or not. We decided to take the ultraconservative option because if he did hurt himself, the year was getting away. I suspected by Monday he would have been fine. Now what we're hoping is after this week he will be available. 

"Scrim, we're not sure. He had to have a clean out, so he has a nasty cut. He will wear some bandaging and a glove. If he can functionally use it, then he will be available."

Reigning Peter Crimmins medallist Day suffered a partially dislocated collarbone in the 63-point win over Richmond, but Mitchell is hopeful the star midfielder will be available for the elimination final if Hawthorn qualifies.

"He is unavailable this week and there are no guarantees after that," he said. "There is no surgical intervention needed. He just needs to feel good enough to play; how long that takes is up to his body and his healing powers. He will be doing everything he can to make sure he is available as soon as possible, but it is pain and soreness that is hurting him."

Hawthorn has won five of its past six games – and 10 of 12 – to surge from 17th after round seven to be one win away from securing a return to September for the first time since 2018.

Mitchell said the Hawks have been building for sustained success since he started in the role at the end of 2021, but the club is in a hurry to play finals and compete for premierships. 

"We've been really clear with the strategic plan we've had for a long time: trying to build a list, build a playing group, build a culture that would sustain us through successful times and create a game style that would bring success for when our times for finals footy came. We've been building towards it," he said.

"There was no speed limit on how quickly that would be. The role of all of us was to put us in an environment where we could go as quickly as possible. We are getting close but we are far from a finished product."

The rise of father-son recruit Calsher Dear has mirrored Hawthorn's staggering ascension over the past few months. Dear arrived via pick No.56 last November and wasn't expecting to play any senior football this year, but is now up to 14 games in his debut season, collecting the round 23 Telstra AFL Rising Star nomination after kicking three goals on Sunday. 

"I think when we assess players, you assess a key forward and we all go to the draft combine and look at speed, athletic profile. But probably the thing that is very, very hard to measure – and they can't capture it at the combine – is competitiveness, ability to learn and implement quickly and coach ability. I don't mean it from a coach's perspective, I mean it from his teammates," he said.

"I think his level of improvement has been so significant because of how raw he was. He was so open minded. He tries really hard, which sounds basic, but there are a lot of highly talented young players that don't have that so have to work on it."

Key defender James Blanck has experienced multiple setbacks in his road back from the anterior cruciate ligament tear he suffered in February. The 22-year-old has been forced to undergo further operations since the knee reconstruction due to infections in his knee. 

Blanck is aiming to be available by the start of next season but a return to full fitness by round one next season isn't a guarantee at this stage. 

Mitchell opened his press conference by paying tribute to Herald Sun journalist Sam Landsberger, who was tragically killed in a traffic accident on Tuesday morning.