HAWTHORN forward Ryan Schoenmakers needs to improve his form despite being hurt against Geelong in round one, says Hawks coach Alastair Clarkson.

Schoenmakers had just two disposals against the Cats. As a tall forward, he was expected to at least partially fill in for Jarryd Roughead, who will miss at least another 10 weeks after a PCL reconstruction. 

Clarkson said an unfortunate hit diminished Schoenmakers' performance last Monday. 

"He would've been disappointed with his output but he was a little bit sore with a knock that he got early," Clarkson said.

"It just didn't help with his movement and that's a big part of his game.

"We thought he competed pretty well last week, but he just didn't get a lot of the ball. 

"He didn't put any pressure on Geelong in terms of getting scoreboard shots, which all forwards need to do at some point in time.

The coach said Schoenmakers would be right against West Coast on Sunday afternoon at the MCG. 

"He's fully recovered from that now," Clarkson said. 

"He trained most of the week. We only had a short break so none of our players have had a really heavy load this week."

Schoenmakers had 21 disposals and kicked a goal in the Grand Final against the Eagles last year. 

The Eagles were 32-point winners in their qualifying final against the Hawks last September, but were humbled in the premiership decider by 46 points. 

This time the circumstances are very different. Hawthorn is missing Roughead, Luke Hodge (arm), Brad Hill (wrist) and Liam Shiels (wrist) from its best team.

The Eagles are also missing important players – Sharrod Wellingham (knee), Dom Sheed (pectoral) and Xavier Ellis (Achilles) are all out. 

Recruit Lewis Jetta will make his West Coast debut.

Despite having gone through adversity on their way to the past three premierships, Clarkson says how the Hawks react to their current issues was uncertain.

"You're going to have these hurdles that you have to overcome from time to time. We've been able to overcome these challenges before," he said.

"Right when you're in the middle of it all, it is very difficult and confronting.

"We've been okay at doing it in the past. Time will tell whether we can get through this little patch."