The reigning premiers have endured a horror start to their title defence, winning only one game from their first four starts.
Clarkson, though, drew on history to support his claim that a top-four finish was still viable.
“Going back to ’97 St Kilda started the season 1-4 [finishing top and playing in a grand final] and even three years ago Sydney started the season 1-3 [finishing fourth and playing in a grand final], so no you never kiss your season good-bye,” Clarkson said at the airport as his team prepared to fly to Launceston for Saturday’s clash.
“We attack every game as if we’re a real chance to win it but we know that every game we lose is going to make it tougher for us.
“Having said that, until it is mathematically impossible to get there we’ll have a crack at it.”
Clarkson promised an intense effort from the Hawks in Saturday’s game after being disappointed in that area in the 30-point loss to Port Adelaide last week.
He said the only way to rectify the problem was by playing tough and hard in Launceston.
“We have gathered a reputation for ourselves for playing good, hard football and have demonstrated that consistently over the past two or three seasons,” Clarkson said.
“Port Adelaide was a worthy opponent but I don’t think we helped ourselves by the manner in which we approached the game.
“We know that if we are not quite sharp in that area then it’s going to be really tough to get the points against West Coast.
“We weren’t at the level we needed to be last week.”
The Hawks have made one change to last week’s side with Travis Tuck coming in for the injured Brent Guerra.
They continue to be without key defenders Trent Croad (foot), Grant Birchall (thumb) and Stephen Gilham (knee) with Gilham the closest to playing this week.
“We thought Gilham might have been available for last week’s game [but] he has got a knee that just continues to swell up. It is just a matter of settling the swelling.
“He feels like he is nearly all right to go but not quite there. And with our injury list as it is we don’t want to play blokes that aren’t quite right.”
Clarkson said Sam Mitchell had recovered from a clash which curtailed his influence against Power last week.
“He has settled himself down over the course of the week and it would be very unexpected if he didn’t run out there tomorrow,” Clarkson said.
