Watch Alastair Clarkson's press conference above.

PLAYING two fellow premiership contenders in the final two weeks of the home and away season was the perfect lead-in to the finals for Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson.

The Hawks defeated West Coast by 25 points on Friday night, just six days after a narrow win over the Sydney Swans at the SCG.

Some coaches may have preferred an easier run into September, but Clarkson said the matches were just what his team needed as it took out the minor premiership.

"We've had two high-quality preparation games for finals. We've played two great sides, two sides that we'd hadn't been able to get over the line (against) early in the season," Clarkson said.

"Both West Coast and Sydney had defeated us in the earlier games, and it was a finals-type intensity with lots of pressure, great tackling by both sides tonight. It was a fierce contest."

Despite playing for top spot, Clarkson was reluctant to reveal his full arsenal to the Eagles.

One indication of the Hawks holding fire was unfamiliar sight of skilful forward Cyril Rioli in the green subs vest before entering the ground to rapturous applause in the third quarter.

Clarkson said the move was as much about managing Rioli's workload in his first game back from injury as it was keeping some tricks up his sleeve against a fellow finals participant.

"You want to keep your powder dry a bit. There is every chance we could play West Coast again next week," he said.

"You don't want to show everything you've got in one particular week but we'll wait and see how the results pan out. He (Rioli) will certainly be a starter for us next week, I'd imagine."

Clarkson did find a way to nullify the best ruck combination in the AFL. Dean Cox and Nic Naitanui won the bulk of the hit-outs but had little effect other than at the stoppages.

"Both those guys didn't kick goals and they've both been regular goal kickers for the West Coast side. We were also able to keep (Josh) Kennedy goalless as well. Those three players are very imposing targets for us in the forward half," Clarkson said.

"With Naitanui and Cox, they are very dangerous. They gave them a couple of beautiful clearances on a platter to some of their mids, but by and large (David) Hale and (Jarryd) Roughead did a pretty good job competing with those guys."