HAWTHORN is set to be boosted by the return of key players Shane Crawford and Trent Croad for Friday night's clash with West Coast at the MCG.

Crawford has been sidelined since round eight with a knee injury while Croad has missed the past two matches with a hip complaint, and coach Alastair Clarkson welcomed the key defender's return.

"He's pretty important to us because he's a big brute," Clarkson said of Croad on Thursday.

"We've been playing (Stephen) Gilham and (Campbell) Brown on bigger type opponents and Croady just gives you more flexibility.

"He can play on a tall or a small, he's pretty important to our back mix.

"They’re two pretty handy ins for us and they’ll add some stability and some leadership to our side."

Tim Clarke (corked quad) is also in the selection frame, but Chance Bateman (corked quad) and Simon Taylor (cut knee) will not return until after the break.

"With Chance we just thought that he’s such an important player for us and we just thought we wouldn’t take the risk," Clarkson said.

"We’ve got the opportunity to give him another rest next week with the bye, so we thought he would be okay for the Sydney game after the break and hopefully he’s right to go for the rest of the season then."

The Eagles and coach John Worsfold have been heavily criticised by the Perth media following their 135-point capitulation to Geelong last week and Clarkson is expecting a tough encounter with the proud club.

"There’s pressure on sides every week that you play. I suppose they’ve been branded a little bit in the press over there throughout the course of this week, but we can’t control what happens at West Coast, we’ve got to just control what happens at Hawthorn," he said.

"West Coast has always been a formidable opponent against us.

"We’ve got to make sure that we prepare really well because games between Hawthorn and West Coast in the time that I’ve been coach have been real competitive affairs with not much in it and we would expect it will be the same tomorrow night.

"We’ve just got to focus on the things that we do well; we didn’t do those too flash last week against the Kangaroos."

Clarkson was asked whether Ben Cousins had a future at his club, but would not be drawn on the issue.

"I don’t think it’s fair to speculate on what’s going to happen with Ben in 2009," he said.

"Just give the lad the opportunity to try and get back to playing some footy and let’s see how his performance is wherever he happens to play over the second half of the season.

"I don’t think it’s fair for any club to speculate on what he’s going to be doing. Just leave the lad alone and let him play his footy and try and resurrect his career."