THE PROSPECT of rain on Thursday night – and a few successful hitouts under the belt – means there's a strong chance Hawthorn will roll out just one key forward against Carlton.
But the tall in question, Mabior Chol, is carrying a heavy load, sitting out a handful of drills in Wednesday's main training session to receive treatment on what appeared to be a lower back/hip issue before returning to the group.
Chol was also wearing a compression belt of sorts around his lower torso.
Josh Weddle came from the field after a heavy collision in a drill, and took some time to compose himself and receive his own treatment before returning to training.
Coach Sam Mitchell told reporters prior to training that Chol and his mosquito fleet – a rotating cast including Jack Ginnivan, Nick Watson, Dylan Moore, Connor Macdonald, Harry Morrison, Blake Hardwick and the slightly taller Finn Maginness – would likely face the Blues, despite the availability of veterans Jack Gunston and Luke Breust.
"We've been a little bit fortunate, it's been a little bit slippery the last couple of games that were played. It looks like there could be a bit of rain again on Thursday," Mitchell said.
"There's some challenges with the way we're moving the ball forward, and 'Marbs' has been fantastic in being able to create a contest for us in front of the ball. I think a lot of the smalls have had to fly. Finn Maginness has had to play a bit taller than he actually stands.
"I think (assistant coach) Adrian Hickmott and the forward line have been able to put a score up in both games, which has been important for us, especially on the weekend when we didn't actually get it inside 50 all that much, but continues to be a work in progress for us."
Hawthorn will be without Jack Scrimshaw for at least one week due to concussion. The defender is also set to challenge his three-week suspension for striking Jordan Ridley at the AFL Tribunal on Tuesday night.
Mitchell indicated the Hawks felt there was "potentially some flexibility" around the grading of the impact, with the club set to argue it down from severe to high.
Changkuoth Jiath is a chance to return this week, having suffered a minor hip injury at the end of pre-season.
"I think Changkuoth's got through two games at Box Hill now. He obviously had a bit of an interruption at the end of pre-season, after a good block before that," Mitchell said.
"He's one of the options for selection. We'll finish off selection after training today and he's one of the names that'll be in the mix."
Mitchell and the Hawks are wary of a rebounding Carlton, which suffered a shock loss to Richmond in its season-opener.
Despite a comfortable 26-point win over Essendon, Hawthorn's engine room struggled in the contest, recording 19 fewer clearances than the Bombers.
"I think we need to worry about our own backyard. It's very difficult, any game all year to know how the other team will come out. We certainly want to control our own narrative for the game as much as we can," he said.
"We'd expect they'll be pretty hot pretty early, but I think they'll expect the same thing from us. If you look at the pressure factor of every game from over the weekend, the first 10-15 minutes, the pressure factor is up over two. That's really what you're trying to produce and make sure you match or better the opposition.
"Carlton's potency, their centre bounce numbers are extraordinary. They're a very, very good scoring team from centre bounce, so right from the start we know that we have to be very good to make sure we can get the game on our terms as early as possible."
