HAWTHORN coach Alastair Clarkson isn't a fan of resting players and believes there's more value in continuity for his team.

The third-placed Hawks have only made two changes to their line-up for their clash with battling Carlton at the MCG on Saturday afternoon.

Fellow finalists North Melbourne and Fremantle have opted to rest a swag of players from their teams for their last round matches, believing it would freshen them up for the play-offs.

But Clarkson said he wasn't a fan of resting players.

"Everyone's got different philosophies on that and ours is that continuity and stability is a really good thing so we want to keep the bulk of our side together going into finals, irrespective of the opponent," Clarkson said.

The coach said he didn't want to comment on whether those teams should be allowed to rest so many players.

The only changes to the Hawks are Sam Mitchell and Paul Puopolo, who missed last round through illness and injury, coming in for Luke Breust and Billy Hartung.

Breust is actually being rested, although he has hip bruising, while Hartung needs more game time, which he will get in the VFL.

Clarkson said he planned to use the Blues game to fine-tune some plans he has for the finals, when they are likely to travel to Perth in week one.

In their last clash in round 17 the Hawks delivered Carlton's worst ever defeat - 138 points.

But Clarkson felt their opponents would rise to the challenge, playing their last match under interim coach John Barker who will hand over to former Hawks assistant Brendon Bolton next season.

"They've been competitive in games early for a long time and with the last game of the year you just never know what's going to come in terms of some real spirit," he said.