Hawks unlikely to rest AFL stars

Hawthorn have the luxury of a two-game buffer at the top of the AFL ladder but don’t expect the Hawks to rest star players with four games left in the home-and-away season.

Alastair Clarkson’s side appears unlikely to be knocked from their perch, but star forward Luke Breust doesn’t believe the four-time premiership coach will take the opportunity to freshen up his squad by resting key veterans.

“I got rested late last year and, if you can, I’d prefer just to continue playing,” Breust said.

“You keep your touch that way and just the patterns that you need to run each week.

“Unless someone was in doubt (with injury) I doubt there will be too much resting.”

Hawthorn will be gunning for 10 wins in a row when they take on Melbourne at the MCG on Saturday and could be bolstered by the returns of Cyril Rioli and Paul Puopolo, who missed last week’s win over Carlton through injury.

The pair trained on Tuesday but must pass fitness tests later in the week to play the Demons.

“Hopefully they can get a full week of training in … it would be nice to have them back,” Breust said.

“I can’t remember playing without both of them before. It would certainly be nice to have all three of us together putting on some forward pressure and trying to kick a few goals.

“They ran today and they’ll have to get through Thursday’s session to be any chance on Saturday.”

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