SHANE Crawford is almost certain to be named for Hawthorn for the side’s round 18 clash with Collingwood on Friday night at the MCG.

The veteran midfielder has missed the past two games with knee tendonitis.

Speaking ahead of the Hawthorn training session at Waverley on Thursday, coach Alastair Clarkson said that the Brownlow Medallist would return to the side if he got through the session. Clarkson also hinted that the 33-year-old may not be the only inclusion.

“We’ll decide that after training,” Clarkson said.

“We’ll see how he gets through now but Crawf’s a good chance to play, the same with Dewie (Stuart Dew). So we’ve got those two guys and Clinton Young that are available to play. We’ve just got to determine whether they all play or they come back through Box Hill.”

Clarkson said he wasn’t dwelling too much on the Collingwood’s recent form, with the Pies having suffered consecutive defeats to North Melbourne and Essendon.

“I haven’t read much into Collingwood’s form over the course of the year. All I can go by is the games that we’ve played against them, and they’ve always been a really fierce contest. We don’t expect anything different tomorrow night against Collingwood.

“They’ll obviously be disappointed with their last two performances and they know they need to get a win to get their season back on track, but we’ve lost our last two as well and we’re in exactly the same boat.

“I imagine both sides would be going pretty hard, just like they did in the contest last Friday night.”