HAWTHORN coach Alastair Clarkson is predicting a "fierce" Collingwood to face the Hawks on Friday night after the Magpies were bullied in defeat last week.
In-form North Melbourne ran Collingwood ragged in what was the worst performance this year from Nathan Buckley's men, but Clarkson is not expecting a repeat of that.
"By their standards, they were pretty average last week, but the Kangas were outstandingly good," Clarkson said.
"We expect a pretty fierce response from the Pies. We know they're a proud club, and they would have been disappointed with their performance.
"Having said that, they've won 10 games, so they're in a pretty good space. We have a few more issues than they have right at the present time.
"We've got our own things we need to focus on and what we need to do to try and win this game of footy, and we'll be endeavouring to do that."
Hawthorn resisted the temptation to bring All Australian defender Grant Birchall back after playing the first half of the past two VFL games, and also didn't select Jarryd Roughead (side strain).
Birchall will play close to a full game for Box Hill this weekend, after last playing at AFL level in round 15, 2017.
FULL FIXTURE Every round, every game
Skipper Ben Stratton will return after missing two games through suspension, but Clarkson said there would not be "wholesale changes" after a competitive effort against West Coast.
The Hawks have lost four games in a row – none by more than 19 points – to slide to a 5-9 win-loss record, but still have a percentage of 96.9.
"We've got eight games of the season to go, and where that takes us, in terms of finals and all that sort of stuff for this year – it's not about the short-term goal for us," Clarkson said.
"It's about the big picture and the long game, in terms of when can we next seriously compete for silverware, and I know I speak about that a lot, but that's what our focus is on.
"It's about exploring the playing group we think can help us get there, as well as the method."
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Chad Wingard (hamstring) will miss a fourth consecutive game and has appeared only seven times for his new side, but Clarkson urged critics not to rush to judgment on that trade.
There were multiple picks involved in the deal, but was mostly built around Hawthorn giving up Ryan Burton and last year's first-round pick (Port Adelaide selected Xavier Duursma).
Clarkson compared Wingard's situation to that of evergreen veteran Shaun Burgoyne, who didn't play until round eight in his first season at the Hawks because of injury.
FULL INJURY LIST Who's ruled out and who's a test?
"Right now, the scribes say, 'Gee, the Burton-Wingard thing wasn't very good for Hawthorn', and it's like, 'Well, it's five minutes old. Come back to us in about 2027 and let us know how it's all gone then'," the coach said.
"We're quite happy to put our hand up (then) and say, 'Burton got the better of that trade with Port Adelaide, or Wingard did', but we don't even worry about that…
"So many people want it to be one club wins and the other one loses, but so often when it's a good trade both clubs get benefit … I think the Wingard-Burton one can be a win-win one for both clubs." - Alastair Clarkson
Clarkson said Wingard had suffered minor setbacks in his recovery from his latest hamstring injury and club medical staff were being "ultra-cautious" this time.
He stands by the reason the Hawks recruited the dual All Australian from the Power, and said future decisions around the draft and trade would be made with the club's best interests.
McGOWAN Why shipping off Burton for Chad was the right call for the Hawks
"We had no inkling whatsoever this time last year that we were going to be in the market for a Chad Wingard, because we didn't really need a Chad Wingard while Cyril Rioli was at the club," Clarkson said.
"But then Cyril retires and it's like, 'Wow, have we got someone like Cyril right here right now, or someone who's emerging, or is there someone available through the draft?'.
"There's not, so let's see if we can go to the trade table and see what we can do in that space.
"That's the area of Graham Wright and Mark McKenzie, anyway, but we're all on the same page."
