THE DIFFERENT looking line-up at Hawthorn will take time to fit in with the new system, says coach Alastair Clarkson.

Hawthorn traded in onballers Jaeger O'Meara from Gold Coast and Tom Mitchell from Sydney at the end of last season, while it used free agency to add ex-Tiger Ty Vickery and former Crow Ricky Henderson. 

Clarkson said at the Ricoh Centre on Friday the new players had acquitted themselves well so far. 

"We've had a fair chance to practice over the summer. Our guys jelled together pretty well and we've got four new faces from other clubs," Clarkson said.

"That might take a little bit of time to understand the best way that they go about it and the best contribution they can make for us and for them to understand the chemistry of the way we play. 

"But by and large, that's the whole idea of a summer really. You indoctrinate new players with the culture of your footy club and the way that we play. All four of those boys have fitted in really well."

All four Hawks were named to face Essendon on Saturday night at the MCG.

Backmen Grant Birchall and Josh Gibson spent plenty of time on the sidelines talking to club staff while the rest of their teammates completed a light training session.

Neither featured in the final JLT Community Series game against Port Adelaide, with Birchall not having played since the first pre-season game against Geelong more than a month ago.

Jarryd Roughead will lead the team out for the first time since being named as captain. His successful battle with cancer and a knee injury forced the forward to miss all of last season and the coach said having him back was a big moment for the Hawks.

"It seems silly leading into round one (but) it's not really about football for 'Roughy'. It's simply about a celebration of him having his health back and about the next 60 years, not the next six months. That's what's exciting for us," Clarkson said.

"We haven't got huge expectations on 'Rough'. We spent the whole season without him last year, so anything's a bonus from our point of view."

Fringe midfielder Jonathan O'Rourke suffered a setback in the latter part of the pre-season but is expected to return soon.

"He's had a hamstring strain. It was to the other side. It's not particularly severe," Clarkson said.

"He's well into his rehab and hopefully he'll play in the next two or three weeks."