The Hawks have been able to recall some key players but the club's injury concerns remain as coach Alastair Clarkson made four changes.
Hawthorn was unable to consider full-back Stephen Gilham, whose knee injury from earlier in the season has again flared, while Grant Birchall (thumb) and Xavier Ellis (foot) will also miss. Draftee Ryan Schoenmakers is another to make way for four quality inclusions.
Football manager Mark Evans said there was good news in the selection of Brad Sewell, Robbie Campbell and Simon Taylor, while Jordan Lewis will play his first match of 2009.
"It is good to have a couple of big blokes back, but also the experience that these guys bring back into our side [is huge]," Evans said.
"Brad Sewell’s a best-and-fairest winner, you’ve got three players who were in the premiership team and two taller players.
"So we’ve been plugging some gaps in the first few rounds and it’s good to get a few back in."
Lewis’ hard edge, coupled with Sewell’s presence around the packs, has been missed in recent weeks.
The left-footer missed his side’s pre-season campaign as a result of off-season shoulder surgery, however, Evans said Lewis was ready despite the lack of match practice.
"He probably was right to go last week and we decided to be cautious by an extra week, so he’s fine," he said.
"The good thing about having an upper limb injury is you tend to do quite a bit of the fitness work anyway, so he’s raring to go.
"We’ve been able to bring in some experienced players. It’s great to have Sewell and Taylor, Campbell and Lewis back.
"The downside is unfortunately we lose some players out of it as well."
Evans said the Hawks hoped Gilham’s knee – which he first hyper-extended in a NAB Cup match against Carlton – wouldn’t keep him sidelined too long.
"He got through the match [against North Melbourne] really well," he said.
"He played a pretty serviceable game for us but there was some swelling in his knee that just hasn’t settled down, so he won’t be able to play this week."
Asked whether he believed the injury might cause Gilham problems throughout the season, Evans said: "I don’t know, I think we’ll just wait until we let it settle down and see where it’s at after that.
"We think it’s just stirred up a little bit, certainly not the way he did it the first time.
"We’re hopeful that it’ll settle down quickly and he’ll be fine."
Evans said his club was thankful Ellis’ foot injury wasn’t too serious but the defender still needed time to heal.
"The mid-foot sprain is still an injury that has to be treated cautiously … we still need to give it some respect," he said.
