HAWTHORN may not be at its absolute best just yet, but the development of younger players should hold the side in good stead come September, says Paul Puopolo.

At the midway point of the season, the Hawks have an 8-3 record, following their 18-point win against Melbourne on Saturday.

Given the challenges the Hawks have faced in 2016, Puopolo believes it’s a great spot to be in – just percentage outside the top four.

“We’re probably in a better position than last year,” the three-time premiership Hawk told 3AW on Sunday.

“We’ve played some good sides this year and we’ve come away with a win, it’s just a couple of games we’ve let slip. But, we still keep managing to win games, and we keep playing new players, which is going to be pretty handy for us.”

The Hawks have already blooded four debutants in 2016 – Marc Pittonet, Kieran Lovell, Kaiden Brand and Kade Stewart – and also been able to get invaluable game-time into the likes of James Sicily, Tim O’Brien and Daniel Howe.

Puopolo believes that experience will be crucial heading towards the business end of the year.

“We’re playing new players at the moment and they’re getting a bit of experience,” he said.

“It’s going to be pretty important come finals time to have those players having a bit experience – you might sometimes have to bat deep in your list.”

However, the Hawks are far from guaranteed a finals berth just yet.

Important games loom against Essendon, North Melbourne and Gold Coast Suns – and if the Hawks can win all three, it lays a strong platform to push for a top four finish.

But Puopolo and the Hawks know there’s plenty of room for improvement – and plenty of time still to improve.

“Obviously we’ve experienced finals footy before and we know it’s a different level,” he said.

“At the level we’re playing at at the moment, if it came to finals right now we’d be knocked out, because we’re not playing our best footy.

“But the thing is we’ve got time… that’s what we’ve got on our side at the moment.”