HAWTHORN star Lance Franklin says the premiership favourites will have to improve greatly from their preliminary final performance to win Saturday's Grand Final against the Sydney Swans.

The Hawks expect to regain captain Luke Hodge for the decider after he missed Saturday night's five-point win over Adelaide through illness.

But Hodge was not at the club for Sunday's recovery session and teammates said he had been kept away from them since training on Friday.

"He's got the bug. He's not in this morning, but he'll be fine," Franklin told reporters on Sunday.

"I don't think anyone would want to miss a Grand Final so Hodgey will get himself right and get himself up for this weekend.

"It's lucky we were able to get over the line for him because I think he would have been a little bit disappointed to miss out."

Franklin said the Hawks badly needed to improve their shooting for goal and admitted he was a major culprit with some poor misses.

"This week we need to take our opportunities when we can, otherwise it could cost us," he said.

"I think I had (former Hawks president) Jeff Kennett's boots on the way I was kicking.

"I obviously just didn't kick as straight as I would have liked to.

"We just need to take those opportunities.

"I was disappointed in myself but we were able to win so that was good."

Franklin said the Hawks were happy to reach a Grand Final not playing their best but could not afford to hope to beat the Swans playing the same way.

"Definitely we've got to play a lot better than we did on the night," he said.

"Sydney are a great side too ... it's going to be a tough game."

Defender Brent Guerra is pushing to return from a hamstring injury and Franklin said it would pose a tough decision for coach Alastair Clarkson.

"I hope (he returns). He'll train this week and he's been really training hard the last couple of weeks to get himself up for this game, so it's a hard decision for Clarko so we'll just leave that to the coaching staff," Franklin said.