HAWTHORN Coach Alastair Clarkson says his side's winless start to the year is of no concern, with the Hawks’ focused solely on its preparation for Round 1.

The Hawks are zero from three so far in the NAB Cup, having suffered surprise losses to Gold Coast and Brisbane in the triangular series and Western Bulldogs in week two of the pre-season competition.

But the Hawks boss remains adamant the win/loss ratio is of no concern to his side, instead reaffirming the Club’s aim for the NAB Cup.

That aim is to condition his players to the best of his and his coaching and fitness staff’s ability so they’re fit and firing for the Round 1 blockbuster against Geelong.

“No (losses are not a concern), it’s all about getting ready for the main season really,” Clarkson said at Aurora Stadium on Friday.

“Wins are nice, we’d certainly take them more than losses but it’s mainly about game time.

“The goal has always been about Round 1 and the conditioning of our players.”

Part of that conditioning process includes the Hawks’ decision to leave star full forward Lance Franklin in Melbourne, ruling him out of the Club’s final NAB Cup match with a corked thigh.

Franklin suffered the injury at training on Tuesday and the Club is adopting a no risk policy with the star forward.

Clarkson says it was a rotation policy too, that saw miss out on selection for the match against Richmond having played all three of Hawthorn’s pre-season matches thus far.

“We’ve left Buddy back this week because he’s had a pretty strong campaign and has played a lot of game time for this point in time,” he said.

“We’ll make sure that over the next couple of weeks we’ll get some more game time into some guys who need it for Round 1 and then get ourselves ready for the Cats.”

Clarkson admits the mindset of his team hasn’t changed despite its winless start to 2013, declaring it’s a delicate fitness balance in the pre-season given the shortened format.

Teams will play for longer when they take the field in Round 1 of the season proper.

“Really just further conditioning because it’s a very demanding game that requires a lot of run,” he said.

“We just have to make sure our players are well conditioned for Round 1 of the main season because the game time is usually a little bit longer than what the NAB Cup series is.

“It’s really important we have the right type of conditioning into our players.”

Clarkson also hinted at including youngsters in his side that takes on Geelong on Easter Monday given their impressive form in the NAB Cup and over the summer.

Although he wouldn’t be drawn on who, he revealed there will be pressure for spots in the Hawks’ best 22.

“There have been a series of them and I won’t individualise one or two but we’re happy with the progress of our group and the depth of our squad,” he said.

“We’ll see a lot more of the young guys who have been around our club for two or three years now and we’re hopeful they’ll play some senior footy this year to put some pressure on the more senior guys who have been around a lot longer.”

Two players certainly in contention to make their debut for the Club in Round 1, however, are experienced recruits Brian Lake and Matt Spangher.

Clarkson says the pair add strength and flexibility to both the backline and forward line of the group.

“He’s (Spangher) been a good acquisition for us thus far, we hope that with he and Lake, it just gives us a lot more strength in our back end,” he said.

“Spangher can also go forward, as can Lake so we’ll explore that throughout the course of the year.”