HAWTHORN'S Jarryd Roughead is on track to return to the field early next season after suffering a long-term Achilles injury in round 12 this year.

Roughead missed the rest of the season after the injury but Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson says the forward and pinch-hitting ruckman will be back to his best in 2012.

"He's progressing on track. He had a little bit of a hiccup early, he had an infection and needed to go back and get that washed out, so that set him back four to six weeks," Clarkson said at a media conference on Monday.

"Outside of that, the way he's responded has been in line with all other Achilles injuries we know of.

"He's been such a big resilient fella for us, I'd expect he'll recover pretty well from it.

"We've got the whole of summer to progress him through at a rate he's comfortable with."

Clarkson said fans could expect another strong season from the Hawks.

Despite a 2011 cruelled by injury, Hawthorn was desperately unlucky not to play in the Grand Final, losing the preliminary final to eventual runner-up Collingwood by just three points.

Roughead and full-back Stephen Gilham (knee reconstruction) both missed the finals.

"We've got a fair amount of optimism going into 2012 [and] we've got aspirations to finish high again next year," he said.

"The key focus for all campaigns is to get as many players through to the end of the pre-season as you possibly can and make sure you start with as full a list of players as you can come March, early April.

"Roughy is the only one at this point who is not able to participate in most of the training as he's still recovering, but he'll start running in the next couple of weeks and we expect if he continues to progress throughout the summer he should be okay for us early in the season."

Clarkson said the team would be bolstered by former Crow Jack Gunston and its draft picks from Thursday's NAB AFL National Draft.

He said the Hawks expected to profit from the draft despite its late entry with picks 33 and 38, and would decide on the night if it would use its third pick of 53 or let it pass to the December NAB AFL Pre-season Draft.
The Hawks coach also ruled out Brendan Fevola as a potential recruiting target, given his age and the list's structure.

He said Gunston, 20, needed to build his strength if he was going to be a regular key-position player for the club in 2012.

He was a second-round draft selection in 2009, taken by the Crows with pick 29.

A right-footer at 193cm and 81kg, he has played 14 senior games and kicked 20 goals in two seasons.

"He's a lad who's six foot three who can play at both ends of the ground as well as in the midfield," Clarkson said.

"We think he needs to get a little bit stronger and until he gets that strength to his upper body he's probably not going to hold down a key position type of role but with greater strength we see he's got the flexibility to be able to do that.

"In the next couple of seasons I think he'll play a little bit of wing, a little bit of half-forward, a bit of half-back, but we'll see how he goes.

"We're just pleased he's a young lad who's shown a fair amount of promise and we think he'll be a handy acquisition to our side."

The club's young players returned from the Kokoda Track on Saturday night and the full list convened for Monday's first official pre-season hit out at Waverley, at which Roughead walked laps.