The forwards in both the brown and gold squads were given ample opportunities, with lightning-quick transition from defence to attack a feature.
Forward Tim Boyle looks set to rekindle the good form of early 2007 if his five first-half goals are any indication, while Lance Franklin was dangerous with three goals from twice as many shots. Cameron Stokes and Cyril Rioli also bagged two majors each.
"I was pleased with the way that both sides took the ball inside 50 and gave [the forwards] opportunities to score," Clarkson said shortly after the match.
"Franklin, Boyle, Mark Williams even little Stokesy chimed in and did some good work, so there were some good performances by some of those guys up forward."
Clarkson was relieved to see Williams and Tim Clarke perform well in their first matches back from long injury absences. Young ruckman Luke McEntee was the only casualty, having strained a hamstring.
The coach wasn't keen to individualise his praise but did admit he had kept a close eye on a few youngsters fighting to put their names forward for round one, especially given the early absence due to suspension (carrying over from season 2007) of Shane Crawford (3 weeks), Jordan Lewis (2) and Luke Hodge (1).
"We've got a lot of guys who have been in our system for 12 months [or] two years now and … we've got to find a couple of guys in the early rounds of the season who can replace some of our guys who are suspended," he said.
"So they'll come into the mix and hopefully put some really good pressure on the guys throughout the course of the year."
Vice-captain Luke Hodge played the whole game after being in doubt with a split finger earlier in the week; he reported a clean bill of health after the final siren.
"I just got through it, it was our first real contact hitout for the year and it was just good to get through the four quarters. I'm looking forward to next week," Hodge said.
"It took me until about the second quarter [to regain some touch]. I struggled a little bit early. I found the ball a little bit late and then moved down the back."
The Hawks will return to Aurora Stadium on Sunday week for their round one NAB Cup clash against Sydney, and Clarkson said he expected to field a "reasonable sort of outfit".
