Osborne injured himself against Geelong in round one but will be a welcome addition to the Hawks line-up.

"It’s good to bring back a player of his experience back into the team," Hawthorn football manager Mark Evans said.

"He’s trained hard now for the last three weeks so he’s right to go."

Guerra returns after just one week on the sidelines. He injured his hamstring against Port Adelaide in round four, but Evans said the nuggety defender had been jumping out of his skin this week.

"It wasn’t really a hammy, it was more hamstring tightness," he said of the ailment.

"When they (players) run off the ground you’re always a little bit more positive than if they have to be helped off the ground … so it was always going to be on the low side of things."

Evans said Young’s injury, like Guerra’s, was on the low end in terms of severity.

The upside for the Hawks is the continued presence of several youngsters in the line-up.

The benefits were seen last week, when Garry Moss starred against West Coast with four goals – picking up the NAB AFL Rising Star nomination in the process.

"The extended patch where we’ve had players out with injury has provided a real benefit for the younger guys," Evans said.

"First of all it’s good that they get a game but because we’ve had an extended run with injuries. The benefit for them is that they’ve actually had three, four, five matches in a row and they’re able to feel like they can contribute at this level.

"Sometimes younger players come in and out of the team and they’re only there for two or three weeks.

"So for these guys to get an extended patch has been good for players like Whitecross and Moss and Murphy and Tuck and Renouf, so they have got a really good run of games.

"It’s a long season and invariably you find that you lose some players as you go. To put a good run of games into players early in the season means that if you do need to go to them later in the season, then they’re well and truly up for it."

Evans said injured pair Grant Birchall and Xavier Ellis were progressing well, Ben McGlynn had thrust his name forward with some promising displays at VFL level while Stephen Gilham’s left knee was slowly mending.

"Getting right up to match intensity has proved difficult without the knee swelling up," Evans said.

"We’ve taken him (Gilham) off his legs for most of this week to try to settle it down.

"When we last did that he bounced back quickly from there, so we’ll have to see where he’s at for next week."

HAWTHORN
B: Murphy, Campbell, Whitecross
HB: Brown, Hodge, Guerra
C: Lewis, Mitchell, Bateman
HF: Moss, Franklin, Dew
F: Rioli, Roughead, Williams
FOLL: Taylor, Sewell, Tuck
I/C: Dowler, Morton, Osborne, Renouf
EMG: McGlynn, Schoenmakers, Stokes

IN: Guerra, Osborne
OUT: Young (hamstring), Stokes (omitted)