The Hawks are winless after two rounds and face a testing clash against the Kangaroos.
However, they should regain full-back Stephen Gilham this week after a knee injury then illness forced him to miss the start of the season.
Ruckman Robbie Campbell and defender Trent Croad remain on the lengthy injury list at Waverley.
Croad broke his foot during last year’s grand final and had further surgery late last week, but Hawthorn football manager Mark Evans said the club was confident the centre-half back would return to the field in 2009.
“Yeah we’d expect [him to],” Evans told afl.com.au on Monday morning.
“We’ve taken the pressure off in terms of time; it’ll clearly be in the second half of the season.”
The Hawks had hoped Croad might be back by the early to mid part of the year. But those plans were scrapped after his latest hiccup.
“He’s had some spurs removed off his ankle, which is a bit further down from the fracture site,” Evans said.
“It’ll take him off his feet for a week or two before he gets back into it. Hopefully he’ll come back with a better range of motion through there and less pain up at the ankle, so he should be able to progress to the next level quickly after that.”
Campbell has been battling a glute/hamstring problem. He was a late withdrawal from the side that was beaten by the Sydney Swans on Saturday night.
“Every week we thought he would play but it’s been very frustrating for him and for us,” Evans said.
“We need to get a better assessment of that because he seems to get through quite a bit of training and we’re quite positive that he’s about to return but he has then pulled up quite stiff and tight following it.”
Ben McGlynn (foot), Brad Sewell (groin), Travis Tuck (shoulder), Michael Osborne (hamstring) and Jordan Lewis (shoulder) also missed Saturday night’s match.
However, there is some good news for the Hawks with Gilham was set to make his comeback.
“His knee ended up being fine last week but he ended up having gastro and stomach issues from Tuesday through until about Thursday, so he will be fine,” Evans said.
Luke Hodge, who suffered a knock to the head on Saturday night, and Chance Bateman, who rolled an ankle, should both be okay to take on North Melbourne.
