Hawks’ Clarkson welcomes Pie fight

Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson says a do-or-die battle with a desperate Collingwood is the ideal preparation for his team’s charge into the AFL finals.

While the second-placed Hawks’ position in the playoffs is assured, the Magpies need a win at the MCG on Friday night – and need Richmond to lose to the Sydney Swans on Saturday – to take eighth position.

Collingwood have 19 players on their injury list but Clarkson was adamant on Thursday they would still be a force with their finals hopes on the line.

“We expect the same competitive Collingwood that we’ve always had when we play against them,” he said.

“They’re currently fighting for a position on the ladder and irrespective of the personnel that they’ve got available we know that they’re going to come out fighting and do everything they possibly can to win.”

Clarkson welcomed the high-stakes tune-up and said it was the best possible preparation for the finals.

“We want that sort of challenge leading into finals.

“It’s a great chance to rehearse our game plan.”

The Hawks have resisted resting key players such as skipper Luke Hodge ahead of the finals, with the coach fearful of upsetting their winning momentum.

“We think the best way to get ourselves right for finals footy is continuity of players and going into the finals with really good momentum and hopefully winning form.”

Defender Matt Suckling, who has a knee injury, didn’t train with the main group on Thursday with the coach ruling him out of the match.

While Suckling is only expected to miss the week Clarkson admitted that match-winning small forward Cyril Rioli might not play any role in the finals with his recovery from a hamstring injury slower than expected.

Rioli hasn’t played since round 15.

“We’re going to give him every chance to try and play but we’re not going to put him or our team at risk if he’s not right to play,” Clarkson said.

“We’ve been able to manage thus far without him.”

The Hawks have identified their start as an area for improvement after they were forced to chase down Geelong’s 33-point lead in the third quarter before securing a 22-point win.

“We weren’t too impressed with the way we started that game but we were really impressed with the way we fought back from being in a pretty dangerous position to lose that game,” Clarkson said.

“We know we’ve got to start games better than we did last week.”

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