Lance Franklin is spraying his shots at goal at the moment but it won’t be long before the Hawthorn superstar tears a game apart, coach Alastair Clarkson says.

Franklin, who claimed his second Coleman Medal in 2011, has kicked 21.36 in the opening nine rounds of the AFL season including 1.3 in last week’s shock loss to Richmond.

“I just let him go. He’ll work it out,” Clarkson told reporters on Friday.

“He’s going through a stretch at the moment that’s a little bit rough for him in terms of his goalkicking conversion.

“But … he’s the number one scoring-assist player in the competition.

“He’s still actually playing some pretty good footy and if he had converted those chances a little bit better, many would be arguing he’s having perhaps his best season of AFL footy.

“I still feel like it’s only a quarter away or a game away from him just tearing a game apart.

“Whilst I’ve got that attitude, our players have and he has himself, I’m sure it’s going to turn around for him pretty quickly in terms of being able to hit the scoreboard.

“Whilst he doesn’t, it’s not like he’s playing terrible footy.

“It’s just not as polished as we can be. When `Buddy’ (Franklin) is kicking at a conversion rate of somewhere around 60 or 70 per cent we know that we’re going to be a pretty formidable side.”

Hawthorn (5-4) host North Melbourne (4-5) in Launceston on Saturday and Kangaroos coach Brad Scott doesn’t need any reminding about triple All-Australian Franklin’s match-winning powers.

Scott said the 196cm, 102kg Franklin’s athletic abilities meant he could play up the ground or in the goalsquare and be equally damaging.

“Just anywhere on the ground, he’s a nightmare,” Scott said.

Scott wants to put an end to North’s alarming trend of fading badly in the last term in their dramatic loss in round eight to Port Adelaide and last week’s win over Brisbane.

“I’d be just as concerned about them if they happened halfway through the first or second quarters,” Scott said.

“We’ve been scored against too easily, so that comes back to every player on the ground.”

North are still missing ruckman Hamish McIntosh, who broke down in round seven and is set to be out for at least another month with knee problems.

Hawthorn have added first-year player Bradley Hill for dumped defender Stephen Gilham.

Clarkson noted the Hawks had lost the tag as premiership favourites.

“We’ve been it several times this year already and we haven’t been able to live up to that billing and nor do we deserve to either,” he said, adding the Hawks were confident they could stand up to any opposition when the team’s attitude is right.

Saturday’s game is also a battle between the two clubs’ marketing departments.

North have signed a three-year deal to play two matches per season in Hobart, while the Hawks have been playing four games each year in Launceston since 2006.