HAWTHORN will again trial a two-ruck set-up on Sunday despite Richmond being without instrumental big man Toby Nankervis.
Jon Ceglar returned from VFL duty to support in-form ruckman Ben McEvoy last week against the Giants and had 13 disposals and 16 hitouts, as well as kicking two key goals early in the final term.
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The Hawks' final 22 is still to be finalised publicly, but coach Alastair Clarkson said he would pair Ceglar and McEvoy to see whether the strategy was viable for the long term.
The Tigers included both Ivan Soldo and untried Callum Coleman-Jones in their extended squad, with Nankervis (adductor) set to miss the next two months.
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"We're not looking at Nankervis being out of their side and thinking 'Oh, gee, we're going to get a huge advantage in the ruck' – it is going to be a significant contest," Clarkson said.
"We've won hitouts and that sort of stuff on a regular basis throughout the course of the year and that doesn't correspond with us necessarily winning the game of footy.
"We're going in there looking at it that it's going to be a fight no matter what the opposition is, whether that's their midfield underneath or their rucks that give them supply.
"Who'd have thought with Nankervis going out of the game that (Noah) Balta and (Nathan) Broad were going to do so well in the second half of the game … we've got to be prepared for anything."
The news comes after Hawthorn chose not to select Chad Wingard (hamstring) and Isaac Smith (foot) for the second straight week after they were unable to train sufficiently.
Clarkson said they would return only if they could complete a full training session next Tuesday or Thursday, ahead of the round 10 clash with Wingard's old side Port Adelaide.
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Jarryd Roughead will also remain in the VFL this weekend, after kicking five goals in a rare state league appearance on Sunday.
"Roughy's form in the Box Hill side last week (was strong) … he had a fantastic attitude, he helped those guys tremendously with his work and he also helped a couple of Western Bulldogs players," Clarkson said with a wry grin.
"He played some good footy but so did the guys who played his role (in the AFL), so we could have brought him back this week but it would unbalance our side.
"As I said in some of the correspondence last week about Roughy; in the first couple of years of his career, while he was still getting up and going, he found himself out of the side on three or four occasions.
"That will be the same with Mitch Lewis and Conor Nash and these types of guys … if they can sustain it, great, but if they can't, then there's every chance Rough's going to come in and fulfill some sort of role for us in the next 14 or 15 games."
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Irishman Conor Nash is one of four possible additions for the Hawks, even though he hasn't played since being dropped after a two-touch effort against Geelong on April 22.
A combination of him being a match-day AFL emergency, a VFL bye and his own illness saw him not play a match in the three weeks since.
