HAWTHORN goalsneak Cyril Rioli will need to rethink his training methods this year as he attempts to overcome osteitis pubis, according to captain Sam Mitchell.

The Hawks' skipper said the 20-year-old was suffering from "a little bit of OP and a little bit of groin tightness" after injuries derailed his pre-season in early February.

Rioli is unlikely to figure in round one as the club takes a "conservative approach" to his recovery.

"He's got some groin pain and a little bit of stuff around his pelvis that's causing trouble," Mitchell said on Thursday.

"We're being pretty careful with him, because he's going to have a pretty important role when he gets back."

Mitchell said the club would manage Rioli throughout the year and re-educate him on how intensely he should train.

"He just had such a fantastic preparation and was training so well for such a long time that he overdid it a little bit," he said.

"Anything to do with your groin or your pelvis region is something you have to manage carefully, and the club is all over it at the moment."

With the Hawks short of ruckmen after losing big men Simon Taylor, Max Bailey, Wayde Skipper to injury and Robert Campbell to forced retirement, Mitchell said the club may look at experimenting with a different approach in the early rounds of the season.

Taylor (fractured ankle) is on the long-term injury list, Bailey (knee reconstruction) won't be available until mid-season, and Skipper (hamstring) underwent surgery this week and will miss two months.

"It's disappointing, but we don't see it as a crisis," Mitchell said.

"It's an opportunity to try something new. We've got Brent Renouf, who's been playing some pretty good footy for us the last couple of games.

"What we do other than that is a little bit unknown to the other clubs and hopefully we can use that to our advantage."

Renouf played the last two games of the pre-season after overcoming serious burns he suffered in a New Years Eve accident.

Mitchell floated recent draftee Sam Grimley, rookie Carl Peterson and even forward Jarryd Roughead as possible temporary back-up ruckmen.

The 2008 premiership captain says there is no extra pressure on the Hawks despite the theory that they are the logical team to rebound into the top eight this year.

"We just had the captains' survey, and 12 out of the 16 thought we'd make the finals," he said.

"There's some out there that don't rate us, and that's fair enough based on last year's performance.

"We're pretty confident we're going to play some better footy in the near future."

Meanwhile, Mitchell said Shaun Burgoyne is "moving well" after his hamstring setback, but the former Port Adelaide star is still not expected to debut for the Hawks in round one.

Sam Mitchell is rated a $449,200 midfielder in this year’s Toyota AFL Dream Team competition.