HAWTHORN will blood Category B rookie Changkuoth Jiath as four-time premiership player Grant Birchall's defensive replacement against Greater Western Sydney on Friday night.
Jiath boarded the flight to Canberra with his Hawks teammates on Thursday morning, but coach Alastair Clarkson stopped short of guaranteeing the 20-year-old would make his AFL debut.
Soon after Clarkson's appearance – when he gave a series of answers on the topic alluding to a decision being made this afternoon – Hawthorn confirmed the worst-kept secret.
The club's media team was caught interviewing Jiath on Wednesday.
"I'm a bit rattled at the moment," Jiath said.
"I don't want to think right now – it feels like I'm day dreaming. I'm just trying to soak it all in.
"I kind of had a little inkling that I might debut sometime soon, but I wasn't rushed. I was trying to be patient, and I was willing to take as long as needed to develop my game and confidence."
Clarkson told reporters Jiath was still "pretty raw" but had played "some pretty good footy at VFL level".
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The Hawks have the AFL's oldest list and are set to roll out a series of senior debutants in the final three rounds since North Melbourne as good as extinguished their finals hopes last week.
Birchall sustained a season-ending hamstring setback in that fadeout loss to the Roos.
Forwards Jackson Ross and Mathew Walker, who's kicked nine goals from 12 scoring shots in his past two state league matches, are others likely to get a go at AFL level before the season ends.
It comes at a time Jarryd Roughead, who's been stuck in the VFL for all bar one senior appearance since round seven, is also in the frame for a farewell game before his imminent retirement.
Next week's clash with Gold Coast at Marvel Stadium is Hawthorn's only one in Melbourne out of its last three matches.
"We'd like to think Roughy would play again for us, but whether that's next week or not, we've got to wait and see," Clarkson said.
"Things happen in games of footy that have to send you down a different direction. I'd hate to make a commitment to all and sundry that that's going to happen, then it doesn't, so we'll wait and see what happens with it next week.
"We're not opposed to it, but nor are we making declarations right now that it's going to happen, either."
Jarryd Roughead's last AFL game was in round 14 against Sydney.
Clarkson said comments such as those from captain Ben Stratton, who is advocating for Roughead to get one more call-up, would not sway his decision.
There are a series of hard calls for the Hawks to make on out-of-contract veterans, including Shaun Burgoyne, James Frawley, Ricky Henderson, Paul Puopolo and Ryan Schoenmakers.
Clarkson said "birth certificates" don't impact these decisions, but this is the same club that has a non-negotiable policy on one-year deals for players aged 30 or older.
"We, as a footy club, never treat (these decisions) in isolation. We treat them in terms of the overall balance of our list," he said.
"We take in a heap of factors about the individual, of course.
"But it's more about how many half-back flankers have we got, who's coming through for us, how many draft picks do we want to have at the end of the year, what were we able to secure in trade, and none of that stuff happens until we've reviewed our whole season, we've done a total review of all our players medically, we've sat down with the players and none of that happens until a week or two weeks after our last home and away game, or finals.
"We're not going to make any declarations on any players until we get to two or three weeks after we've played our last game."
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