HAWTHORN coach Alastair Clarkson says the absence of Lance Franklin will only improve his side in the long run.

Franklin sat out Sunday's 72-point victory over the Bulldogs with a hamstring strain suffered in last week's rout of Greater Western Sydney, but the Hawks' ammunition close to goal was still strong, with six multiple goalkickers. 

Clarkson noted the absence of Franklin had made the Hawks more unpredictable entering the forward line.

"When Buddy plays he obviously draws a lot of attention and focus and it's even hard for our own players not to kick the ball to him sometimes given his presence down there," Clarkson said post-game.

"Everyone in the competition perhaps wants Buddy to be kicking 100 goals but it's not necessarily the best outcome for our footy club. The greater spread of goalkickers we can have, the better side we're going to become."

Hawthorn's runaway win over the Bulldogs pushed its percentage to 157, the best in the competition. It has won its past six games at an average of 85 points.

Clarkson admitted Hawthorn's ability to turn strong performances into dominant wins would be important at the end of the year when teams jostled for ladder positions. He said he didn't have to remind his team to put the foot down when it had the chance.

"We've been particularly conscious of making sure that when we get opportunities to put some scoreboard pressure on the opposition that we try to take advantage of that," Clarkson said.

"But, by and large, the most critical thing for us to build is not percentage, it's [to build] four points and to just keep getting those."

With Franklin out, the Hawks also had room to experiment. Key defender Ryan Schoenmakers started deep in attack, and although he was subbed out of the game at three-quarter time,  was still able to kick two goals and offer a marking target.

"We thought we'd give it a go," Clarkson said of moving the 21-year-old forward.

"It worked OK for us, it wasn't sensational, [but] having said that he's had very little exposure to it."

Hawthorn's top four hopes will be probably be on the line when it faces Collingwood, Essendon and Geelong in the next three weeks, but Clarkson wasn't willing to address his team's meeting with the top-of-the-table Magpies just yet.

"We'll review this tomorrow and early Tuesday and then get ourselves ready for Collingwood," Clarkson said.

Callum Twomey is a reporter for the AFL website. Follow him on Twitter at @AFL_CalTwomey