ALASTAIR Clarkson has revealed he sent a cheeky text message to Sam Mitchell about the possibility of a return to Hawthorn as an assistant coach, but joked that he was put back in his box "pretty quickly" by the four-time premiership Hawk.

It was revealed earlier this week that Mitchell will cut short his time at West Coast and is set to return to Victoria in 2019, where he will continue his assistant coaching career.

A 307-game player at Hawthorn, Mitchell won four premierships, five best and fairests and a Brownlow Medal during his illustrious career with the club, before moving to West Coast prior to the 2017 season.

He has spent two years at the Eagles, one as a player and one as an assistant coach under Adam Simpson, but will return to his native Victoria at season's end.

A host of clubs are set to vie for his signature, with Clarkson joking on Saturday that Hawthorn is set to join the long line of teams hoping to secure his services.

"I think I've joined the queue, along with (nine) other clubs here in Melbourne if he is going to return, which has come out this week," Clarkson said.

"I sent him a text – and my wife did yesterday as well – just to say … it must be tough for them, because they went over there on a little adventure and from all reports they're going to come back a little earlier than they thought.

"We'll see how that all plays out, but we've got more important things right now to be worrying about.

"I know Sam well, his response to me was 'yeah, we're coming home Clarko, but now's not the time to talk'. So I was put back in my box pretty quickly by him."

Hawthorn takes on Fremantle on Sunday evening, with the Hawks hoping to retain their position in a fiercely competitive top eight with victory.

The Hawks edged out the Cats for eighth position last round by just 0.8 per cent, but Clarkson rejected the suggestion the club's final five matches would be like 'mini-finals'.

"It hasn't really changed from the first day of the season," Clarkson said.

"We rock up and try to get the four points from that game in that week. Whether you do or not doesn't really define whether you make the finals or not.

"As it gets closer to finals, you think 'gee we'd like to win this one'. But it doesn't change much, we'll just focus on what we need to do this week and then we'll deal with the following week once we've reviewed this game."