PREMIERSHIP Hawks Cyril Rioli and James Frawley will be fit for round 23 but coach Alastair Clarkson has confirmed that neither will play again this season, with finals not a major concern for the club.

Making September for an eighth-straight season is unlikely with Hawthorn in 12th spot, but it could happen if they win their final two games and other results fall their way. 

Rioli suffered a posterior cruciate ligament injury in his left knee in round eight against the Brisbane Lions, while Frawley has been out since the same game with turf toe. 

"(Rioli's) nearly right to go but to come back for one game, the PCL has implications for (his) hamstrings, because it is all connected in that part of the leg, so we just wouldn't take the risk with Cyril given his history in that other area," Clarkson said on Friday.

"With Frawley, he's right to go and doing all the training as well but to bring him back for one game and push out one of our young players who's been doing pretty well, it was just pointless really." 

Clarkson claims Hawthorn hasn't focused intensively on finals since its 0-4 start, and nothing has changed for the coach. 

"Some of that was implicated by the injuries we had by some of our senior players, and that gave opportunities to our younger players, but we made a decision after round four that we're going to really pump some games into some young players and get ourselves ready for our next serious challenge," Clarkson said. 

"We could mix ourselves around in the bottom part of the eight but we're not going to significantly challenge.

"If we happen to mysteriously get there in the next couple of weeks, fantastic, but our goal all along has been building a process and a group of personnel, both on the field and off the field, that can help us win our next piece of silverware. 

"That's been our heavy focus for the last 12 weeks and that's not going to change for the last two weeks."

Jaeger O'Meara (right knee) and Paul Puopolo (groin) make their returns this Saturday night against Carlton at Etihad Stadium, after each has had lengthy stints on the sidelines. 

Part of the thinking about bringing O'Meara back was around quietening speculation from outside the club about his fitness, while building belief was important for Puopolo, who hasn't taken to the AFL field since the brilliant round 14 win against Adelaide in South Australia. 

"It was just a matter of him, just like Jaeger, just going through his rehab, getting himself some match conditioning last week at Box Hill and once again getting some opportunity for the last couple of games of the year just to convince himself that he can get back and play at that level," Clarkson said.