ALASTAIR Clarkson says Hawthorn won't shy away from having "honest and forthright" conversations with its ageing champions this year as the club prepares for a potential wave of retirements in coming seasons.

Although the likes of Brian Lake (33), Sam Mitchell and Shaun Burgoyne (both 32), Luke Hodge, David Hale and Josh Gibson (all 30) remain at the top of their games, Clarkson said planning for the regeneration of the list was well underway.

"We're hoping that we'll evolve naturally," the triple-premiership coach told AFL.com.au.

"We've probably got six or eight players that are just waiting in the wings for that opportunity.

"Some of it will come with injury but I think we need to be really, really honest and forthright with those (older) players."

Injuries sidelined Mitchell, Lake and Gibson – who told AFL.com.au this week he hopes to extend his contract beyond this year – for long spells last season, allowing the likes of Angus Litherland, Billy Hartung and Alex Woodward to make their debuts.

The squeeze will be on even more in 2015, however, with recruits James Frawley and Jonathan O'Rourke boasting claims for senior spots, and Brendan Whitecross set to return from two ruined seasons.

But Clarkson is in no rush to move on his champion players, especially while the Hawks are in premiership mode.

"We want to retain our more experienced guys because I think strangely enough the more experienced clubs are generally the ones who are challenging come the end of September," Clarkson said.

"So we don't just want to throw out our experience for the sake of it, but we need to respect the fact that we need to regenerate too.

"It's just finding that balance. If performance, or durability or their capacity to play week-to-week is compromised in any way, maybe Father Time will tell us."

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Despite the raft of injuries – which made last year's flag one of the greatest in Hawthorn's history – the Hawks had the luxury of taking time to properly rehabilitate their stars.

Clarkson said there was plenty of faith among the senior players that the next generation would step up and perform when required.

"'Mitch' when he returned and Lakey as well, 'Hodgey' missed a bit the year before but played nearly the whole season last year - they all played really, really good footy," Clarkson said.

"Some of these guys have just come off really, really strong seasons.

"It's because they're all really comfortable in their own skins. It's not about how many games they play or whether they're best on ground every week – it's about contributing to the team.

"As long as they continue to have that type of attitude then even coping with some injuries and missing some footy they're not hell-bent on trying to get back too early, because they see other guys who can come in and perform really well in their absence.

"That keeps them fresh and hopefully allows them to play an extra year or two."