Ahead of the team’s flight to Launceston, Senior Coach Alastair Clarkson said the Hawks were looking to find some consistency. 

Clarkson said Hodge was "pretty keen to play well" in Tasmania after watching two defeats during his stint on the sidelines, in what is an "important game" for the Hawks (4-4) after their roller-coaster start to 2015.

Hodge gathered an equal club record 44 touches in his last appearance at Aurora Stadium against the Western Bulldogs in round three, and the skipper could again be used through midfield against the depleted Suns.

Despite Gold Coast (1-7) missing star onballers Gary Ablett, Dion Prestia, David Swallow and Jaeger O'Meara, Clarkson said the Hawks needed to respect the Suns' ball-winning ability.

"The Suns have been really strong in the midfield, despite them not being so good in terms of their win-loss throughout the course of the year," he said.

"They're really high up in terms of their clearances (equal first with Hawthorn) and really high up in contested ball (outright third).

"So that gives us a really clear focus because if you allow any side first access to the football it means you've got to be doing good work elsewhere on the ground to get it back again."

However, the Suns face an unenviable task upsetting the Hawks at their Launceston fortress, where the back-to-back premiers have strung together 12-straight wins.

Gold Coast has never beaten Hawthorn in six meetings and has an average losing margin of 54 points against Clarkson's outfit.