Best 22 – round one
B: Blake Hardwick, James Frawley, Ben Stratton
HB: Ryan Burton, Tim O'Brien, James Sicily
C: Isaac Smith, Tom Mitchell, Jarman Impey
HF: Cyril Rioli, Jarryd Roughead, Shaun Burgoyne
F: Luke Breust, Jack Gunston, Paul Puopolo
Foll: Ben McEvoy, Liam Shiels, Jaeger O’Meara
I/C: Taylor Duryea, Conor Glass, Daniel Howe, Ryan Schoenmakers 

Emerg: Harry Morrison, Ricky Henderson, Marc Pittonet, Will Langford

Fans' season previews: Hawthorn

2017 best and fairest top three
1. Tom Mitchell
2. Ben McEvoy
3. Luke Hodge

Injury list
Grant Birchall is the only certain member of Hawthorn’s best 22 who is unavailable for the start of the season, but he is back training after various complications following PCL surgery. Jon Ceglar is coming back from an ACL tear in late 2016 but has battled back soreness of late. Cyril Rioli had a delayed start to the summer after being granted extended leave to be with his father, who suffered a heart attack last September. If he misses the season opener it will be because he needs a touch more conditioning. It will be interesting to see whether the Hawks play him for a half of Box Hill's practice game this weekend.

The big questions

Do the Hawks have the hunger?
Coach Alastair Clarkson has admitted that the horror 0-4 start to last season was as much a matter of the collective hunger as anything. If that has been addressed, then there is cause for optimism this year because the Hawks still have loads of premiership experience across every line and plenty of emerging young talent. The Hawks can keep the scoreboard ticking over if they can keep close to their best team on the park. 

How much will the loss of Luke Hodge hurt?
Hodge might have been perhaps the greatest Hawk of all in the last 15 years, but the signs were clear that he was slowing down towards the end of last year. His value was not as much with the ball, but his peerless organisation and on-field coaching, which was perfectly illustrated by the Channel Seven vision during the clash against Adelaide in round 14. Birchall’s return will be critical because he shapes to be the next defensive quarterback for the side, but until then, let’s hope Hodge’s words and deeds remain etched into the minds of the remaining Hawk defenders.  

Will Clarko go with the flow?
Footy can be a copycat game and to varying degrees, the game-plan of the defending champions will likely be seen across the competition this year. But as buoyed as he was by his great mate Damien Hardwick coaching the Tigers to a flag, Clarkson believes Richmond’s small forward arrangement was an outlier. The Hawks looked OK early on against the Blues in their JLT Community Series clash on the weekend with mainly pint-sized forwards, but it is likely the traditional path to premiership success of two tall forwards remains the way to go. By the time the season settles down, he would hope to have McEvoy and Ceglar resuming the partnership that worked well in 2016 until Ceglar got hurt. Add Jarryd Roughead and Tim O’Brien to the mix and the Hawks will be aiming to play tall close to goal. 

Look for…
Jarman Impey to make an impact. The former Port Adelaide speedster has impressed with his pace, dash and willingness to take the game on. Against Carlton on the weekend he ran with Patrick Cripps for a time and he also hit the scoreboard. Time will tell, but Impey has the makings of another shrewd pick-up by the Hawks from a rival club, with Clarkson touting him as a potential A-Grader. 

Who they play
The draw isn’t too shabby. The Hawks play their opening four games and six of their first eight at the MCG. Take away their four home games in Tasmania and they only travel interstate four times, and they won’t play either the Crows or Power at Adelaide Oval. Sadly for Bruce McAvaney, he will only get to call Cyril Rioli just once this year and it seems odd that the Hawks only feature once on a Friday night when Carlton gets four such prized timeslots. Because the Hawks are good enough to beat any side in the competition when they hit their straps, the draw doesn't appear to have any real horror patches and indeed there is the opposite – rounds 17-19 - when they face Brisbane, Carlton and Fremantle. If they’re in the eight or close to it, this represents an opportunity to place one hand firmly on a finals berth. 

Fantasy cash cow
Conor Glass ($328,000, DEF): The speedy, strong Irishman broke into the side for the final six games of last season and just quietly, didn't put a foot wrong once selected. The good judges have him penciled in to Hawthorn’s best 22 this season because of his ability to break the lines and his remarkably good foot skills for someone so new to the game. He averaged 53 points a game last season, but figures to play a more prominent role this year, particularly with Billy Hartung no longer at the club. So far, he is owned by just 0.54 per cent of AFL Fantasy players.

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Sudden impact
Emerging half-back Harry Morrison impressed in his solitary senior game last year and should slot into the side at some stage. Midfielder James Worpel, the club’s first pick at last year’s NAB AFL National Draft is solidly built and could play quite soon, as could clearance beasts Kieran Lovell and James Cousins. The Hawks need depth in that part of the ground because it can’t all rest on Mitchell’s shoulders. 

It's crunch time for…
Jonathan O’Rourke. The Hawks usually get it right when they reach for a player from another club, but O’Rourke has managed just nine games in three years and has struggled to shake off persistent hamstring injuries and he simply must fire this year if he is to remain with the club. At his best, he offers much-needed outside run.

2018 shapes as a massive year for O'Rourke. Picture: AFL Photos

Pressure rating on the coach
What pressure? With four flags in 13 years, Clarkson has delivered to the Hawks in spades. He has two years left on his contract and wherever he and the club go from there, it will be a mutual decision. He won’t be making any decisions about the team purely on the basis of a contract extension for himself. 

The 2017 habit the Hawks must kick…
Their poor third quarters. Hawthorn won just six third terms in 2017, a figure that bothered the coaching staff enough that the half-time routine was altered during the season. Will things change this time around? Only the coaches and players know how seriously the JLT Community Series was taken and what adjustments were made, but against the Western Bulldogs the Hawks were outscored 5.5 to 2.3 in the third term, while against the Blues it was an alarming 8.1 to 4.1.

The Hawks will have a good year if… 
Cyril Rioli and Jaeger O’Meara play full seasons. The Hawks won six and a half of their final 10 games last season. Had the ladder only taken those games into account they would have finished sixth. Rioli and O’Meara add serious talent to a group that played pretty well from late June to the end of August.

They’re in trouble if…
Mitchell goes down. Without him and depending on how O’Meara fares, they don't have too many other topliners. 

Pass mark
The talk at Hawthorn is the same every year. Finish top four at the end of the home and away season and then strive to win the flag from there. This list doesn't seem top-four worthy (then again, nor did Richmond’s last year) and appears to be in transition, but it remains good enough to play finals. That should be the pass mark for 2018.

AFL.com.au predicted ladder finish: 10th 

Player Ratings star
Shaun Burgoyne, No.19. Consistently consistent every year. Hasn't missed a game since 2013. But hopefully for the Hawks, their top ranked player at the end of this season won’t be 35 years of age.