THE Hawks will field an almost full-strength side for its final NAB Challenge clash against Essendon at Cranbourne's Casey Fields, starting at 2pm this Saturday.
Nine players with more than 900 AFL matches to their name have been included in the squad.
On the flipside, the nine players to make way have a mere 13 AFL appearances between them.
Skipper Richie Vandenberg, key defender Trent Croad and forward Ben Dixon will all play their first matches for the season, while Luke Hodge, Sam Mitchell, Mark Williams, Grant Birchall, Robert Campbell and Tim Clarke return to the 28-man squad.
Youngsters Beau Dowler, Brent Renouf, Josh Thurgood, Jarryd Morton, Josh Kennedy, Travis Tuck, Garry Moss, Luke McEntee and Sam Gibson have been left out.
Football manager Mark Evans said this weekend's squad was a strong indication of how the round-one team would be selected.
"It's our last hit-out before round one and some of the guys who have been on a modified pre-season program in preparation for round one get a start – guys like Dixon, Croad and Vandenberg," Evans told hawthornfc.com.au.
"It's also pleasing to see some fresh, young talent remain in the squad, with Xavier Ellis and Beau Muston still in there as well. It's good to see that they are up and going before round one.
Rick Ladson (ankle) and Joel Smith (knee) are still out of the line-up but Evans said the pair remains in contention for round one against the Brisbane Lions on March 31.
"We'll still have Ladson to come back into the mix for round one and potentially Joel Smith as well," Evans said.
"There would also still be some guys that haven't made this weekend's squad that if they play an impressive game for Box Hill, might find that they are in round one contention as well."
Squads:
Hawthorn: Jarryd Roughead, Jordan Lewis, Sam Mitchell, Mark Williams, Danny Jacobs, Shane Crawford, Chance Bateman, Brad Sewell, Simon Taylor, Grant Birchall, Luke Hodge, Beau Muston, Brent Guerra, Ben Dixon, Tim Boyle, Richie Vandenberg, Ben McGlynn, Lance Franklin, Trent Croad, Tim Clarke, Zac Dawson, Stephen Gilham, Matthew Little, Tom Murphy, Campbell Brown, Xavier Ellis, Robert Campbell and Clinton Young.
Essendon: Mark Johnson, Ricky Dyson, Scott Gumbleton, Jobe Watson, James Hird, Angus Monfries, Leroy Jetta, Jason Winderlich, Mark McVeigh, Damien Peverill, Courtenay Dempsey, Kepler Bradley, Matthew Lloyd, David Hille, Henry Slattery, Courtney Johns, Mal Michael, Mark Bolton, Brent Stanton, Scott Lucas, Chris Heffernan, Jason Laycock, Alwyn Davey, Patrick Ryder, Dustin Fletcher, Adam McPhee, Nathan Lovett-Murray and Bachar Houli.
