HAWTHORN coach Alastair Clarkson expects Mitch Lewis to return next week as the young forward continues his recovery from a concussion suffered in training.
Lewis was concussed in a boxing session last month and will be unavailable for a fourth-straight week as the Hawks prepare to take on Port Adelaide at Marvel Stadium on Saturday night.
"He's training really well. He's been able to jump through the protocols really well this week. The first two or three weeks he just plateaued," Clarkson said on Friday.
"We needed to tick that box that he didn't have any symptoms once he got his heartrate to a certain level and he couldn't cross that for a few weeks, but finally this week that's been able to happen.
"We just ran out of time for him to play this week in terms of the concussion protocols because he only ticked that box midweek, but we're really hopeful he'll play next week which will be great for him and the club."
The Hawks will also be without young gun Will Day, who had an "impingement" of the ankle he had surgery on earlier this year in a contest against the Giants last week.
"We don't know if he's going to be out for one week or ... six but it'll be determined by how it settles," Clarkson said.
There's a lot at stake for Hawthorn in the second half of the year, including making an impact in Shaun Burgoyne's 400th AFL game this weekend.
The 17th-placed Hawks are enjoying a lift in form, having won two of their past three games, but face a stern test against the Power.
"Our first half of the year was that poor that it's probably going to mean that we're disqualified from the opportunity to play finals this year," Clarkson said.
"But what we do in the second half of the year sets us up enormously for getting ourselves back up the ladder next year and beyond.
"So there's a lot at stake for us. It seems a silly thing to say given that we can't make finals this year but there's a lot we can get out of this year.
"... (Port Adelaide are) a top-four side who've got great aspirations to try and win a flag and we want to test ourselves to see whether our system stacks up against one of the better sides in the competition."
Clarkson said the Hawks were keen to focus on beating the Power rather than necessarily doing it for the veteran, who didn't want his milestone game to "be about him".
Burgoyne, 38, joined the Hawks at the end of 2009 from Port, when he was carrying a potentially career-threatening knee injury.
Clarkson said Burgoyne had acknowledged if he'd attempted to continue to be a midfield star, his career would be "finished in two or three years" and had changed his mindset accordingly.
"To his credit he was able to suppress his ego and just say 'I just need to play a role - I'll let the accolades and that sort of stuff go to some of the others in the team and I'll just play wherever the coach and the club needs me to play,'" Clarkson said.
"...That's the importance of his role to our footy club: This guy ... despite his star status in the game had the humility to say 'I'll just be a role player here and help the club be successful as they can be.'"
