HAWTHORN coach Alastair Clarkson has not ruled out selecting Jarryd Roughead for Friday night's preliminary final rematch with Collingwood at the MCG.

Roughead, on the comeback from a ruptured Achilles, played for the Hawks' VFL affiliate Box Hill on Sunday.

The Hawks said early in the week that the short turnaround between the Box Hill match and Friday night's clash was likely to mean the 25-year-old would be held back for another week.

But Clarkson has left the door slightly ajar for a selection surprise.

"He's available to play, and we've just needed to determine when's the right time for him to come back into the Hawthorn side," Clarkson said at Waverley on Thursday morning.

"Hopefully that'll be sooner rather than later.

"We'll wait until quarter to six this afternoon and we'll find out the sides."

Clarkson said the external expectation on Hawthorn to beat the Magpies, and to contend for this year's premiership, wouldn't have any bearing on the club internally.

"We're flattered as a footy club that the wider football community think that we're positioned well enough to give it a good crack," he said.

"We sit there quite comfortably knowing, however, that Collingwood and Geelong over the past three years have been the best sides in the competition, and we've got to try and bridge the daylight that's between us and those two sides.

"So we're under no illusions as to where we're at.

"A good reflection of how well we've worked over the summer will be indicated with our performance tomorrow night."

Mark Macgugan covers Hawks news for afl.com.au and hawthornfc.com.au. Follow him on Twitter: @AFL_MarkM

Jarryd Roughead is a $414,600 forward in Toyota AFL Dream Team. Register your team here.