HAWTHORN coach Alastair Clarkson says midfielder Xavier Ellis is relieved that a difficult week for the 20-year-old is over.

The defender met with AFL football operations manager Adrian Anderson to disclose bets on football matches made under his name by a relative and was subsequently cleared of any wrongdoing after an investigation.

"I think he's a little bit relieved," Clarkson said.

"In the end it was a pretty trivial issue. As it's turned out the AFL has gone through the records and turns out he's got no case to answer so he moves on. It's not his normal week but he's a pretty resilient lad and he'll jump straight back into it on Saturday against the Kangas."

As for the Hawks' Saturday afternoon clash with North Melbourne, Clarkson is expecting a tough challenge from a side eager to make amends for recent defeats.

"They're a dangerous side when they've got their backs to the wall, the Kangaroos," he said.

"They've lost their last three and I'm certain they wouldn't have been pleased with their performance over in Fremantle, so we're expecting a tough contest.

"We've got enormous regard for the way the Kangaroos have gone about it for a long period of time and we know it's always a fierce contest when we play them."

The last couple of matches between the two sides have been fiery and Clarkson is expecting another tough encounter.

"The two sides match up against each other pretty well.

"They had a fierce rivalry in the seventies and that's starting to re-fuel a little bit through this decade. I think it's good for the game and we've had some pretty good contests over the last two or three years."

As for verbal exchanges between both sets of players in the media, Clarkson insisted that any such banter will be irrelevant come game day.

"There's always a little bit of theatre going into these types of games," he said.

"It will be a good contest. Once the bounce is up, it's 22 guys from each side having a fair dinkum crack at each other.

"I don't think there's been any blow-outs in any of the games over the last three or four games. They've all been fiercely contested games."