HAWTHORN expects to have its full complement of players available for the start of pre-season training in late November.

The Hawks lost a host of experienced players through the middle of the season and while the replacements, many of them first- and second-year players, acquitted themselves superbly, the reinforcements will be welcomed back with open arms.

Grant Birchall (PCL) and Ben Stratton (PCL) are recovering from surgery, while Cyril Rioli (PCL) and James Frawley (toe) might have returned had the Hawks made the finals.

Ruckman Jonathan Ceglar will also be right for the start of pre-season after the decision was made to give him extra time to recover from the ACL tear suffered late during 2016.

"He was very close to getting back into the ball program, but we decided it was too fine a line to get back so we’ve set him for the start of pre-season," Hawks high performance manager Andrew Russell told hawthornfc.com.au.

"He should be doing skills in December and getting a full pre-season."

Youngsters Mitch Lewis and James Cousins will also be on the track in November having recovered from shoulder surgery. They will be ready for contact work as soon as it is introduced.

Russell said the Hawks this year suffered their heaviest injury toll since 2009.

"That wasn’t ideal. We had 70 more games missed this year than last year, but what was unusual about it was that between rounds seven and 10 we lost 137 games worth of injuries," Russell said.

"Since that time, we only had 32 more games lost.

"We had an unbelievably bad patch and then an unbelievably good patch. Our team was really consistent in the second half of the year and that's one of the reasons we played better footy.

"It was a season of two halves, really."

Meanwhile, the Hawks have confirmed the roles for new line coaches Darren Glass and Scott Burns in 2018.

Glass will take charge of the Hawk backline, while Burns will work with Brett Ratten overseeing the midfield. Adem Yze will take charge of the forward line again.

The Hawks will begin returning to training around November 20.