VETERAN Shane Crawford is certain to return but hard man Campbell Brown is facing a race against time to be fit for Hawthorn’s qualifying final with the Western Bulldogs at the MCG on Friday night.

Brown rolled an ankle early in his side’s thumping of Carlton last week and coach Alastair Clarkson admitted the Hawks are facing the prospect of taking on the Dogs without one of their most important players.

“He’ll need every minute of the next three or four days to get himself right for this game,” Clarkson said on Tuesday.

“Given the resilience of Browny and the way he recovers, and the professionalism with the way he goes about it, I’d give him every chance to get up.

“But he’s going to need every minute … he’s an important player to our structure, so we’ll probably leave it even until about Friday lunchtime to make a decision on whether he plays or not.”

Brown is the only genuine injury concern for Clarkson as the Hawks enjoy their healthiest list for some time.

Crawford, who has suffered from knee tendonitis for much of the season, was rested at the weekend although Clarkson said it would “take a pretty brave man to leave him out of the side”.

“We’ve got about 29 or 30 blokes who can all put their hands up for selection,” he said.

“[Getting guys right has] been a key focus for us over the last six to eight rounds now.

“We had a fair few suspensions early in the season, some of which carried over from last season and then we had a patch [of injuries] through the middle of the year

“It’s only been in the last four to six weeks that we’ve been able to get our full group back together.

“There’ll be certainly no excuses for us come Friday night.”