Speaking at Melbourne Airport ahead of the side's departure to Launceston for its round 19 clash with the Brisbane Lions, Clarkson lauded Crawford's career as 'stellar' and said the playing group would lift for the champion on Saturday.
"The tributes have been flowing thick and fast and rightly so," he said.
"[Crawford is] a very decorated player at our footy club and it'll draw some recognition … especially from the 21 blokes that are fortunate to run out on the ground with him tomorrow."
Clarkson also paid tribute to Brent Guerra, who will play his 150th game at Aurora Stadium on Saturday.
"He's been a really handy acquisition for us over the past three years now.
"Those guys sharing their milestones together should hopefully mean it's a pretty special day for our club."
Despite Crawford battling injury in recent times, Clarkson said the veteran would line up against the Lions "unless something terrible happens in the next 24 hours".
Clarkson said he was hopeful that Michael Osborne would return to action next week. He will miss his second consecutive game with a corked buttock sustained in the club's round 17 defeat at the hands of Geelong.
"It was really close to the bone the bruising. They usually take a little bit of time to settle if you get it right in the meat of the buttock. He trained really well this week and was really close to playing but we just thought we'd err on the side of caution and he'll be fine next week I'm sure."
Clarkson said that although much of the focus leading up to the Launceston clash was on both sides' power forward duos in the Hawks' Buddy Franklin and Jarryd Roughead and the Lions' Jonathan Brown and Daniel Bradshaw, the key to victory was in the midfield.
"If we allow Charman, Black and Rischitelli to get on top of us in the midfield then that will supply those big forwards. On the other hand if we can win that area of the field it gives our big guys a chance. So it's going to be a critical part of the game tomorrow."
Clarkson noted that Brown and Bradshaw weren't the only attacking threats that the Lions had.
"They've got a number of players that are capable of kicking goals. (Ashley) McGrath's been playing down back recently but he's a capable goal kicker that can go forward. (Jared) Brennan's been playing more around the midfield but he's a capable goal kicker too."
