HOW is the list shaping up for the season and what are your expectations for 2007?

Clarkson: We've had a really good pre-season, particularly from the guys who have been in the system anywhere from three to seven years. Three-year players like (Tom) Murphy, (Simon) Taylor, (Jarryd) Roughead, (Lance) Franklin, (Jordan) Lewis and (Clinton) Young have had terrific pre-seasons and that stretches through to players like Chance Bateman, Rick Ladson, Robbie Campbell and Sam Mitchell. That group forms the core of our footy club and they've had tremendous pre-seasons.

We've nursed our older guys a little bit this pre-season. We don’t have many older guys so we want to try to retain them for as long as we can. We've got the youngest list in the competition so with such a young group we want to make sure we keep some elder statesmen around the club to guide the young fellas.

Like we do every year, with the guys who are in their first and second years, we don't usually ramp up their program until their third year - we just nurse them along. But the core group of players, their pre-season has meant we can attack the season proper with a lot of confidence.

There is a fair bit of excitement brewing from your squad. How do you balance excitement and expectation with your long-term plans?

Clarkson: This group of players has a tremendous attitude and work ethic and they're just hungry to climb the ladder. We're not sure how quickly that's going to be but certainly it's not through any lack of effort or will by the playing group. They've worked pretty solidly over the summer and it's been a long pre-season, so they're looking forward to the season-opener against the Brisbane Lions.

How high do you believe the club can climb the ladder this year, given there is still an enormous amount of potential in your group?

Clarkson: It is very difficult to predict. I'm certain all of you guys in the media are trying to work out what your top eight is and who your bottom five are? It's a very difficult assignment and it's all speculation.

From a football point of view, we want to continue to track in the right direction. The improvement will be mainly in our off-field programs. We want to add weight to our young players, more conditioning into their bodies through training sessions and exposure to our players at senior level by the amount of games they can play.They are some of the internal things we are measuring, rather than just an end result of wins and losses and where we finish at the end of the season.

We know that eventually our performance, as a coaching group and the club, will be judged on how consistently we can make finals and ultimately win premierships. But in the present stage of our development, it's more important that we've got the program set up to best enhance the development of these lads and give them the chance to one day play consistent finals football.

So you're not going to predict where the side will finish this year?

Clarkson: No.

Which young players do you expect to see step up significantly in 2007?

Clarkson: It's difficult to say at this early stage but we knew that when we went into the 2005 draft, Xavier Ellis, Beau Muston and Beau Dowler weren't going to play a lot of footy for the club in 2006. So the pleasing part for us is that we've made some investments at that draft who are going to be long-term footy players for our club. We'll probably see those guys make a contribution to the Hawthorn footy club in 2007 and beyond.

From the 2004 draft, we saw some milestone games in terms of players being able to have an impact on the match. Roughead kicked four goals in a half against Essendon, Lewis had a 30-possession match and Franklin had a couple of games where he kicked six goals. All of a sudden, their own benchmarks and standards were elevated as a result of those games and they realised they could not only contribute at that level but have an impact at influencing games. Clinton Young, over the pre-season, has had 25 and 30 possessions in games, so that's suggesting these guys are starting to gain genuine belief that they can contribute at this level on a consistent basis.

Just on Franklin, how are you dealing with 'Buddy' mania?

Clarkson: He knows he's part of the forward structure and depends on his teammates to be able to kick goals for us. He'll also push up into the midfield at different stages. But he's no different to the other guys who we've drafted into the club over the past three years. We've had 13 first- or second-round draft selections in three years, so a lot of these boys have significant talent. At different stages, we're going to have to harness that talent and build it into a team culture because you've got 22 players and they all have a role to play. 'Buddy' has an important role that we want him to play but it's no more important, in a sense, than the other 21 players. But because of his size, the fact he is Aboriginal and runs so fluently, he attracts a fair amount of attention. From an internal point of view, the role that he plays is important to the team structure.

Have you any concerns over the several reports and suspensions during the pre-season period?Clarkson: It got blown out of proportion a little bit. There were five reports last weekend and they were all thrown out. We play hard, tough footy and early in the season there are always a lot more reports than normal.

If you cast your mind back through history and think of all of the great players who played in premierships – (Glenn) Archer, (Wayne) Carey and (Wayne) Schwass at North Melbourne, (John) Worsfold at the West Coast Eagles, Greg Williams or Jimmy Buckley at Carlton or whether you go back to our own club with (Robert) DiPierdomenico, (Dermott) Brereton and Leigh Matthews – they all played with a tremendous passion. They also played with a tremendous hardness at the footy and that's how we like to play.

Sometimes that's going to mean, unfortunately, you'll incur the wrath of the tribunal. We hope that's not often but we play a very tough demanding game – probably one of the most demanding games in the world. We want to limit those indiscretions as much as we can but when you're playing in a tough, demanding environment like ours, there's going to be indiscretions from time to time.