HAWTHORN coach Alastair Clarkson admits Lance Franklin's extended stay on the sidelines is less than ideal preparation for a finals campaign, but is confident the star will finally return next week.
Franklin was set to play his first game after five weeks out with a hamstring injury in Sunday's 64-point win over Gold Coast, but withdrew after falling ill on Saturday night.
"It's not ideal," Clarkson said post-match.
"Six weeks is a fair stretch out of the game, so that's why we were particularly keen on him being able to get up and play this week.
"It was just stiff that he got some sort of viral bug, or whatever it is that's forced him to feel unwell.
"What we also don't want to do is, a guy coming back from five weeks out, to have him play under a little bit of duress, so as soon as he woke up this morning feeling a little bit shady, there was no point trying to press the issue.
"Hopefully he recovers well and it's just a 24-hour thing, but we'll get him assessed tomorrow by the doc and see how he's going."
Clarkson said he also expected to regain Sam Mitchell (corked leg) and Josh Gibson (ankle) for the Swans clash, after both missed Sunday's win.
Victory at the SCG would take the Hawks to the top of the ladder and put them in the box seat for the minor premiership.
"Our finishing position is entirely in our own hands," Clarkson said.
"We play Sydney next week and that's going to be a big game.
"If they defeat us, we're not going to be able to catch them, that's for sure."
The win over the Suns was a thrashing, but not of the magnitude widely predicted.
The lop-sided nature of disposals (453-339), clearances (48-26) and inside 50s (66-33) suggested the final margin could have been greater.
"We're not usually a side that has 450 possessions of the footy, and when you've got a smorgasbord of options available to you, sometimes you don't use the ball as well as you'd like," was Clarkson's assessment.
"At different stages we were really pleased with the way we were playing, and at other stages we were really disappointed, particularly with our ball use.
"With the amount of ball we had and the amount of dominance we had from clearances, we should have been able to do some more scoreboard damage.
"But really, all you're searching for at this stage of the year is to continue to clock up the wins, and give ourselves a chance at the end of the year to compete deep into September.
"So we've continued to do that, and we get ourselves ready now for a big contest against Sydney up in Sydney next Saturday afternoon."
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