Hawthorn’s pre-season loss to Collingwood is a price happily paid as the club prepares for a crack at a third successive premiership.

Without some of their key senior players the Hawks travelled to Launceston’s Aurora Stadium on Thursday night when the Magpies were victorious 17.14 (116) to 2.8.6 (72) in the NAB Challenge opener.

Stand-in Hawks coach Brett Ratten described as disappointing the final quarter when Collingwood powered home with seven goals, however he said the game served as good exposure for young new players.

There was no Luke Hodge, Cyril Rioli or Brian Lake and just 90 minutes before the game Hawthorn also scrubbed Jarryd Roughead, Josh Gibson, Jordan Lewis and Paul Puopolo from the lineup.

Ratten said it is all about timing.

“We are the first game in the NAB Cup series and we are the last game in round one so we’ve really got to time our preparation carefully,” he said.

“We will put some of the senior players back in, maybe next week we’ll start to introduce Hodge and these guys, but it was encouraging that some of the kids got game time.”

Following off-season knee surgery utility Brendan Whitecross isn’t far away from returning to competition, Ratten added.

“He would be fairly close, he’s been training really well.

“I think his preparation would have to be perfect to play round one, but he’s doing everything right so it wouldn’t surprise us but we’ll just have to wait and see.”

Great expectation surrounded the debut of James Frawley in Hawks colours, but the former Demon kept a fairly low profile.

Ratten described the defender’s performance as “solid” and said he put in an admirable amount of game time after Kaiden Brand left the ground early with a dislocated shoulder.

The Hawks meet North Melbourne at Shepparton on March 8 for their next pre-season clash.