HAWTHORN'S No.1 ruckman Ben McEvoy and important defender Ben Stratton appear on target to return for Friday night's blockbuster final against Geelong after training strongly at Waverley on Monday.

McEvoy, who is expected to carry most of the ruck load during finals in Jonathon Ceglar's (ACL) absence, missed round 23's thrilling win over Collingwood due to a back/glute complaint.

The 27-year-old dual premiership big man failed to train last Friday, but looks set to make his comeback against the Cats.

Meanwhile, reliable backman Stratton is all but certain to return from a month on the sidelines after recovering from a torn pectoral.

The Hawks have sorely missed his aerial prowess and assistance as a third man up in marking contests during recent losses to Melbourne and West Coast.

"Both of them trained really well (today) and have had a strong couple of weeks now," Hawks forward Ryan Schoenmakers told AFL.com.au.

"Stratto obviously is doing some great things (this season) and it would be good to have him back in the side for a bit of stability."

The Hawks have a short injury list heading into finals, with Schoenmakers pulling up well from the last-gasp win over the Pies – his first senior game since round three.

The 25-year-old had battled what coach Alastair Clarkson termed a "grumbly" groin after being crunched in a tackle in a round one loss to the Cats, with fears he wouldn't play AFL again this season.

But Schoenmakers, who was taken with pick No.16 in the 2008 NAB AFL Draft, is now pain-free and will finally notch his 100th game after an injury-interrupted career this Friday night.

"I've been progressing pretty well for a couple of weeks and played a few games of footy and no pain or any symptoms," the tall forward said.

"Definitely in the last quarter (against Collingwood) I was feeling (fatigued) a fair bit.

"I was hoping that I would be able to taper off but the game didn't go that way.

"(After) a couple of games at Box Hill it was a pretty sharp spike in performance and workload, and my body was able to manage pretty well."

Meanwhile, 2015 premiership player Matt Spangher booted two goals and had 18 touches playing in the VFL development league on Saturday as he builds fitness after a hamstring tendon setback.

The injury-plagued defender spent time in the ruck and up forward and is likely to be a back-up option during finals if injury strikes.

Besides Ceglar, the Hawks' only other major absentee leading into finals is star forward Jarryd Roughead (melanoma).