Watch Alastair Clarkson's press conference above.


HAWTHORN coach Alastair Clarkson has played down the Hawks' red-hot favouritism heading into Saturday's preliminary final clash against Adelaide.

The minor premiers are short-priced favourites with bookmakers in the lead-in to the encounter at the MCG, with Crows coach Brenton Sanderson even conceding "we certainly need Hawthorn to not play at their best" for his side to progress to the Grand Final.

The Hawks had a brief 20-minute training session at Waverley Park on Friday and Clarkson wasn't willing to buy into the conversation.

"We're not really into responding to comments; it's just about the processes that we've put in place for the season to date," Clarkson said.

"We know that Adelaide have been a good side all year and despite odds and favouritism and all that sort of stuff we know that the scoreboard is going to say '0-0' at the start.

"Whatever games have been won before the preliminary finals [don't matter] - everyone starts equal.

"It just comes back to what we can control in terms of the processes and our preparation leading in has been sound. We can't control anything else that goes on with the Adelaide side or expectation or markets or anything like that.

"All we control is the way that we prepare to play games of footy and that hasn't been any different to any other game that we've played this year.

"It's not going to change for a prelim final either."

Inclusions Jordan Lewis (hamstring) and Clinton Young (calf) moved freely during the short session before signing autographs with their teammates.

"They've been important parts of our mix, they've been consistent players for us throughout the course of the year and have played the majority of games," Clarkson said of the pair.

"So in terms of … the way we want to play, they've been pivotal to that over the course of the year. We're happy that they're available to play."

Hamstrung defender Brent Guerra did not join his teammates for the session, but was put though a 40-minute workout an hour later as he stepped up his bid to play in the Grand Final should Hawthorn progress.

Guerra, 30, tore his left hamstring against West Coast in round 23, but is back kicking off both legs on the move over 30m, doing witches hat agility work and half-pace 100m runs.

The veteran has made steady progress from the injury and could give Clarkson a tough choice to make with the Grand Final coming 29 days after he suffered the injury.

Guerra was part of the team that missed out on a Grand Final berth last year when Collingwood snatched a dramatic, last-gasp win.

The Hawks' players were clearly devastated by the defeat and Clarkson was livid in the immediate aftermath, but the coach said he hadn't used the disappointment of that game to motivate his charges.

"We haven't spoken about it at all," he said.

"We're all disappointed that we bowed out, but preliminary finals are like that.

"It's very cut-throat. There's extreme satisfaction if you're able to win a prelim and there's extreme disappointment if you fall out of it because your season's obviously over."