Hawthorn say it is testament to the depth and strength of their squad that a quality player will miss out on Saturday’s AFL grand final to accommodate skipper Luke Hodge.

Hodge has trained strongly this week, and he led his team through an open session in front of more than 10,000 fans at their south-east Melbourne base on Thursday.

But Hodge’s return from illness means one of the 22 that beat Adelaide in last weekend’s preliminary final will miss the biggest game of the season.

Defenders Tom Murphy, Ryan Schoenmakers and midfielder Shane Savage have been mentioned as possible casualties when the team is selected later on Thursday.

Hawthorn director of coaching Chris Fagan says it is proof of the depth of Hawthorn’s player pool that someone would be told after training they would be left out for Saturday’s clash with Sydney.

“There’ll be an unlucky person misses out for Luke, but there’s always unlucky people at grand final time,” Fagan said on Thursday.

“The strength of the team this year’s been our squad, and it’s not just the bloke who misses out but the other six or seven players who have trained on – it’ll be terribly disappointing for them too.

“But they’ve helped us get there and been an important part of what we’ve done.”

Hawthorn are confident their gameplan stand up whatever the weather for Saturday’s game, with wet weather, possible hail and low temperatures predicted.

A huge crowd packed every possible vantage point at Waverley Park to cheer on the Hawks in their open training session.