HAWTHORN coach Alastair Clarkson was thrilled with the performances of his four debutants in the round-one win over Melbourne, but gave special praise to the man who most excited fans at the MCG on Saturday.

Carl Peterson's 17-possession match included a slight concussion and a neat, running goal.

Josh Gibson, Rhan Hooper and Jarrod Kayler-Thomson also made impressive starts to their Hawthorn careers, though the display by one-time Tiger Peterson had Clarkson sit up and take notice.

"He (Peterson) just took to it as if he'd been playing senior footy for a long period of time, so that's really exciting for us," Clarkson said.

"We've unearthed a guy who could play a lot of footy for us, we believe."

The Hawks were missing several key players but might have found another as they stormed to the 56-point victory.

Clarkson had considered rushing Cyril Rioli (osteitis pubis) into the side but was grateful he played the caution card instead, admitting the match committee faced a selection dilemma in recent weeks.

"As it's turned out it's great in hindsight," Clarkson said.

"We're really pleased that we didn't play him (Rioli) this week because there was a real push to try to get him ready for round one.

"But when you have a nine- or 10-goal victory and you haven't been forced to play Cyril, it's a great luxury to have.

"So he'll get another two or three training sessions over the course of the week and he'll hopefully be available for round two against the Cats."

The Hawks will also regain Lance Franklin and Chance Bateman from suspension, which should lift the mood of the side even more.

Clarkson had sensed the buoyancy among his players during the pre-season, but also in their first-up win.

Being able to train for longer over summer and having a healthier list than 12 months ago had contributed to it.

"There was just a tremendous spirit amongst the players," he said.

"We haven't got too many more guys who are fit for us this time this year than this time last year, but the ones that are fit this year have had six to eight weeks extra preparation for their season. Last year we had some injuries but we also had some guys who were a little bit underdone going into the season.

"All we really wanted was 22 fit Hawthorn players with a really solid preparation.

"We've got perhaps five or six of our most talented 10 players in the club not playing today, so that's exciting for us"

Clarkson was also pleased with the performance of Brent Renouf and dispelled any thoughts the ruckman had sustained an injury, despite him spending the last term on the bench.

"We're not really well off for rucks at the minute … it's not like we're missing some support for him for one or two weeks," he said.

"Some of the guys who are out of the game with injury at the moment are going to be out for six, eight, 12 weeks, so we've got to protect him a little bit.

"We were really impressed with his game … we were fortunate we had the opportunity to just lighten his duties a little bit in the latter stages of the game."