Hawthorn Coach Alastair Clarkson is open to four-day breaks in the fixture but has warned it may cause a reduction in the consistent availability of superstar players. 

Clarkson says he and the club acknowledges the array of challenges the league is facing to facilitate the season currently.

But, with the Hawks enduring a five-day break between games this week, Clarkson said the club had opted to rest Shaun Burgoyne ahead of the Collingwood clash.

The Hawks coach alluded to the idea that resting players such as the 37-year-old Burgoyne may become a reality more often if the period between games was to be shortened. 

Golden Years podcast: Round 22 1998 was a day of mixed emotions for the Hawthorn faithful.

"We've got our squad of players up here and it just might mean that you've got to push deeper into your squad," Clarkson said.

"But, if you have to do that, then it's probably going to come at a cost to the game in terms of having your high quality players out there.

"For instance, we're not going to play Shaun Burgoyne this week - off a five-day break we don't think it's a wise decision to have him back up in that period of time.

"That's just one example: would the wider football community prefer to see Shaun Burgoyne playing? Probably. So, those sorts of decisions will need to be continuing to be made by clubs."

With so much uncertainty continuing to hover over the game's immediate future, Clarkson said the club was focused on controlling what it could control.

"With all the speculation that is going on, whether it's playing on shorter breaks, which state will be playing at beyond next week - all we do is put our trust in the AFL and not worry about the innuendo and speculation about the possibilities.

"You can worry about a lot of things that might not come to fruition."