HAWTHORN coach Alastair Clarkson has left the door ajar for important defender Ben Stratton to make a stunning return to the AFL with his recovery from a horror knee injury progressing faster than expected.

Stratton, 22, was a revelation down back for the Hawks during 21 games in his debut season before suffering a badly dislocated kneecap and ligament damage in a collision during the round three clash against Richmond earlier this year.

The coach was at pains to point out Stratton's return for the Hawks' finals campaign was a long shot, but admitted it wasn't out of the question.

"He's training really well and he's really back into doing the full program with all our players, so we'll wait and see, but it would be pretty remote," Clarkson said from Melbourne airport.

"It was a pretty serious injury. All our forecasts at the time he did the injury were that he was going to miss the rest of the year. That hasn't changed enormously even though he's a young lad who has attacked his rehab with real gusto.

"He's a little bit more progressed at this point in time than we thought he'd be, but we'll wait and see how it goes over the next few weeks. It's probably more unlikely than likely."

Stratton's return would further boost a team that will be looking to tighten its grip on a top-four berth with a win against Fremantle in Perth on Saturday.

Chance Bateman was thought to be in line for a recall after suffering an ankle injury in round 15, but with four wins from the past five matches, Clarkson has the luxury of holding him back a week or two more.

"He's had two ankle injuries over the last seven weeks, but he's right to go," he said.

"We just want to make sure he gets some good match conditioning and gets himself right.

"He'll train himself up over the next week or two and we'll make the call whether he comes back into the side next week or whether he gets a nice little training block in.

"We've done that with a couple of our players. We did it with Brad Sewell, we did it with Cyril Rioli and they both came into the side last week ready to play and perform. It's not just about getting them back and available, it's making sure that they're ready to perform at the level that we require them to."

Cameron Bruce and Jordan Lisle have made the trip to Perth as the travelling emergencies but Clarkson does not expect to call on them.