DEFENDER Grant Birchall will be given every opportunity to play in what could end up being a fifth premiership, with Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson declaring he'd select the veteran "in a heartbeat" if fit.
Birchall, 30, hasn't played a single game this year because of ongoing issues with the posterior cruciate ligament in his knee - the injury that limited him to just five games last year.
He could potentially play in Box Hill's VFL elimination final against Port Melbourne on Saturday as a last-ditch effort to prove his fitness ahead of the Hawks' AFL finals campaign.
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His coach threw his support behind Birchall on Monday, comparing his situation to that of the Cyril Rioli saga in 2014 when they recalled the goal-sneak for their winning Grand Final over Sydney despite him not playing at AFL level since round 15.
"We backed Rioli in and I daresay we might be backing this guy in as well if he gets himself there because he's a ripper, unheralded, perhaps underrated by many in the game outside the walls of our footy club," Clarkson said.
"But, we'd select him in a heartbeat as much we would Rioli, and everyone would understand why we do it with Rioli, but we'd do the same with Birchall if he can prove to himself and us that he can do enough to run out a game."
Despite his lack of match conditioning, Clarkson said Birchall had done the hard yards on the training track, which would be taken into consideration.
"He's had a pretty strong block of training over the last four to six weeks, he needed to do that because he's missed so much footy," he said.
"We'll see where that goes over the next couple of weeks
"He's a high quality player. Our biggest dilemma is going to be, has he got the match fitness?"
Meanwhile, defenders James Frawley and James Sicily will both have to prove their fitness before the Hawks' September 6 qualifying final against Richmond.
Frawley wanted to play against Sydney but was held back because of the back soreness he picked up in a hard landing against St Kilda the week before.
Sicily will see a specialist this week to get clearance on the wrist he broke in late July before a decision is made on if he plays in Box Hill's final.
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Birchall, Sicily and Daniel Howe are eligible to play in the VFL this weekend under the ruling that states any AFL-listed player who did not play in round 23 (at AFL level) can appear in the VFL during the bye.
Howe will be discussed this week, along with Jon Ceglar, with both presenting interesting selection dilemmas.
Ceglar missed round 22 with a sore calf and was then kept out of the team that beat the Swans on Saturday night because of forecast rain and the risk of being top-heavy.
Complicating his situation is whether the Hawks couple Ceglar with Ben McEvoy against the Tigers, who will continue with playing just one ruckman - Toby Nankervis - with support from Shaun Grigg.
Clarkson said Ceglar would come under a "fair amount of consideration", as will Howe, who is eligible to return from a five-week suspension.
"[Howe's] trained really well. He's raring to go, he came up to Sydney with us on the weekend and we just wanted him to be a part of it because if he is selected for the Richmond game in 10 days' time, then we want him feeling part of the group," Clarkson said.
"He's fit and raring to go so we'll see where that goes over the next week or so."
In Howe's corner is his tagging ability, with Clarkson to analyse the Tigers' last six weeks in a bid to discover a vulnerability they can expose.
"Every side has their soft underbelly where they're not so good in some areas; it's pretty difficult to find with the Tigers, we'll be searching pretty hard," he said.
"In their case, it's trying to negate what they do really, really well. Some will be patterns of play and that might come down to trying to negate the influence of a significant individual who is just so critical to them, which they've got plenty.
"Everyone says, will you tag [Dustin] Martin? Sometimes it's not the Martins you really have worry about; it's the [Kane] Lamberts and the [Shane] Edwards' and these sorts of guys and that's the difficulty with Richmond, they've got such great depth through the middle of the ground.
"They've been a good side for a period of time now. You don't sit top of the ladder only losing four times for the year without playing some really, really strong footy."
