RUNNING defender Changkuoth Jiath and veteran forward Jack Gunston have been recalled for Hawthorn's clash against Carlton on Thursday night, while the Blues have made just one change following their shock loss to Richmond last week.

Jiath has played just 19 games in the past two seasons due to a series of injuries and missed the first two weeks of this year because of a hip issue.

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But he's been recalled in place of the suspended Jack Scrimshaw, while Gunston is also back for his first game of 2025 in place of defender Sam Frost, who was the Hawks' sub in their first two games of the season.

The Blues are unchanged apart from the expected recall of star forward Charlie Curnow, who had been managing a knee issue, with summer signing Francis Evans dropping out of the side.

Mitchell and the Hawks are wary of a rebounding Carlton, which suffered a shock loss to the Tigers in their season-opener.

Despite a comfortable 26-point win over Essendon last week, 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," Mitchell said on Tuesday.

"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."

THURSDAY, MARCH 20

Carlton v Hawthorn at the MCG, 7.30pm AEDT

CARLTON

In: C.Curnow
Out: F.Evans (omitted)

R1 sub: Sam Docherty

HAWTHORN

In: C.Jiath, J.Gunston
Out: S.Frost (omitted), J.Scrimshaw (suspended)

R1 sub: Sam Frost