The Hawks' captain will play for the club's VFL affiliate Box Hill on Saturday, his first game in 12 weeks.
Hodge suffered a knee injury in round six, just a fortnight after returning from a calf problem that kept him out for the opening month of the season.
Clarkson admitted on Friday he'd had to fight the temptation to bring the 28-year-old straight into the senior team, but was determined to take a long-term view.
"He's the captain of the club, and we've just got very, very fond memories of the impact that he's made on our footy club over a long period of time, so there's always that temptation to [bring him straight in]," Clarkson said.
"But the bottom line is, he's played two games of footy in 20 weeks, and we just felt like the best thing for him to do was get some match fitness at Box Hill.
"That might take one, two or three weeks, we'll just wait and see how he comes out of tomorrow's game.
"We're probably more focused on getting him match-fit so he can have an impact at the greater end of the season, rather than the temptation of bringing him in for a big game when he's a little bit underdone.
"We're more likely to get better output out of a player that's match hardened and can play his role a little bit better just at this point in time."
Hodge will play in the VFL alongside ruckman Max Bailey and veteran wingman Chance Bateman, who are also on the comeback from injury.
Clarkson said all three, along with Xavier Ellis, who is a week from resuming from a knee injury via the VFL, were "seriously in [the Hawks'] plans for the latter part of the season".
Hawthorn's clash with Collingwood at the MCG shapes as pivotal for the club's double chance hopes.
A win would see the Hawks entrenched in the top four and potentially on top of the ladder at the end of round 17. Lose, and they'll be two games behind the Magpies and could fall to as low as sixth.
Clarkson said his team was looking forward to the contest, but played down its importance.
"It's just another game of footy, really," he said.
"We've had 15 thus far and this is the 16th.
"There's a lot of hype about this particular game as one of the four or five games that are going to shape the outcome of the season, in a sense, but having said that we've still got another six games to play after this one.
"It's a great game of footy, because we're testing ourselves against probably the best side in the competition over the bulk of the last 24 months.
"So it's going to be a great test for where we're at as a footy club and we're looking forward to that challenge."
Mark Macgugan covers Hawks news for AFL.com.au and hawthornfc.com.au. Twitter: @AFL_MarkM
