The 15th-placed Hawks (4-6) are set to miss the finals for the second year in a row.

The last time that occurred was in Clarkson's first two years as coach in 2005 and 2006.

Clarkson has been urged to play more youth now that the Hawks' finals hopes are all but over.

The four-time premiership coach said that will naturally happen given the compressed nature of the fixtures.

But he doesn't want to bring too many kids in at once, knowing they could struggle if they aren't surrounded by experienced, battle-hardened players.

Clarkson said it was too hard to base a rebuild primarily on high draft picks nowadays due to free agency and the clampdown on priority picks.

The veteran coach feels his group is in a similar stage to the Hawthorn outfit that missed the finals in 2009 after a host of players retired or got seriously injured during their 2008 flag-winning campaign.

"Trent Croad never played another game of football after that game," Clarkson said.

"Shane Crawford retired. Stuart Dew finished up the next year.

"Mark Williams hurt his knee and never played good footy again really. Robbie Campbell the same.

"Clinton Young was never really the same player after he hurt his ankle in the 2008 grand final.

"So in the space of six months the profile of our list changed enormously and we dropped down the ladder in 2009.

"Only to find in our younger players Luke Breust, Isaac Smith, Paul Puopolo, Ben Stratton, Liam Shiels, Ryan Schoenmakers - all these kids came through in a quick space of time and all became part of our next era of success.

"We know we're in that phase again.

"It doesn't require us to strip ourselves back for a four, five, six-year process.

"As we saw, we were back in the prelim final by 2011 despite finishing out of the eight in 2009."

Hawthorn were lucky to lose by only 16 points in a woeful display against Fremantle last week, and they're in danger of copping an even bigger pasting in Sunday's clash with flag favourites West Coast at Optus Stadium.

The Hawks welcome back Shaun Burgoyne from a tight hamstring, while Changkuoth Jiath and Conor Glass were also named among three changes.

Isaac Smith and Jon Ceglar go out injured, while Tom Scully has been rested.

The Eagles are boosted by the return of Jeremy McGovern from a broken thumb, with debutant Nic Reid and midfielder Brayden Ainsworth joining him in the team.

Forward Jake Waterman (broken hand), Liam Duggan (hamstring) and Jarrod Cameron (dropped) go out.

Australian Associated Press