Watch Alastair Clarkson's press conference above.

ALASTAIR Clarkson says Hawthorn has the depth to cover injured players, such as defender Brent Guerra.

Guerra tore his hamstring against West Coast last week, leaving him in doubt for the remainder of the season.

Without revealing who would replace the hard-nut when the Hawks' team is named for the qualifying final clash with Collingwood on Friday night, Clarkson said he had confidence that whoever came in could perform well.

"Last time we played against Collingwood, 'Goo' (Guerra) was out through suspension," Clarkson said on Thursday.

"We've been able to cover without our guys at various stages, and it reflects the depth of our squad more than anything, that we've got guys who can come in and play their role."

The Magpies' up-and-down recent form will see Hawthorn start favourites, but Clarkson said his team would need to be at the top of its game to win.

"We can't control anything about Collingwood, except in the manner that we play on Friday night," he said.

"So our heavy focus is going to be on trying to stick to the structures and processes that we've put in place throughout the course of the year to try and win games of footy.

"Now it gets to the pointy end of the season there's a little bit more on the end of it, but our processes have held us in pretty good stead up until this point, and we won't be changing too much going into tomorrow night's game.

"We've been really pleased with the last couple of games we've had to play, against finals-bound sides.

"So we're happy with our preparation.

"We know we've got another formidable opponent tomorrow night in Collingwood, so we know we need to play at our best to win, and Collingwood need to do the same to beat us."

Collingwood forward Travis Cloke emerged from a form slump to haul in 16 marks against Essendon last week.

Clarkson said the task of stopping him would be difficult.

"Irrespective of what others have spoken about Trav, we know his talents, and we prepare for Travis Cloke at his best, not at his worst," Clarkson said.

"That's the way coaches always plan, in my view.

"We know what we saw last week is what we usually expect from Travis.

"So we've got to prepare for that and try to make sure our strategies can combat that.

"It's going to be tough, because he's a big unit, but we'll give it our best shot."