Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson has forecast a raft of options to combat Carlton spearhead Brendan Fevola in Saturday's crunch game at the MCG between the traditional rivals.
Premiership full-back Stephen Gilham was again ruled out with a nagging knee injury that has restricted him to just one match this season, leaving Clarkson with no obvious match-up for the Blues forward.
Thomas Murphy and ruckman Robert Campbell have rotated through the key defensive posts during the early part of the season, while Norm Smith Medallist Luke Hodge is another option for the undermanned Hawks defence, which welcomes back Brent Guerra after a week out with a hamstring injury.
Forward Michael Osborne has also been recalled.
"It'll all depend on where he plays," Clarkson replied when asked who will take on Fevola this weekend. "At different stages last week (against the Western Bulldogs) he was higher up the ground so we'll have a combination of players depending on what position he plays."
However, Clarkson warned that the third-placed Blues - who he described as being in 'pretty formidable form' - were far from a one-man forward line with Fevola (15), Eddie Betts (16), Ryan Houlihan (six) and Cameron Cloke (five) combining for 42 goals so far in 2009.
"That's been a strength of Carlton's over the course of this year so far - they've been less inclined to kick it to Fevola as much as what they were in previous seasons," Clarkson said before training at Waverley Park on Friday.
"I think they had a multitude of goal kickers last week and that's made them more difficult to combat up forward."
Clarkson also downplayed the significance the death of former Carlton president Richard Pratt would have on the Blues on Saturday afternoon.
"That's probably a question you'll have to ask the Carlton boys," he said. "We just focus on what we can control here."
"It's just a fact of life you've got to deal with as they come up. Whether it inspires Carlton or otherwise is for them to control but ours is all about the 22 guys that run out and the best preparation we can give to try and get us the points on the weekend."
After a slow start to the season, the reigning premiers are starting to play football 'more akin to our best', Clarkson said, after rolling a plucky West Coast by 18 points in Launceston last week.
Captain Sam Mitchell was among the Hawks' best players in a new role roaming across half-back and Clarkson would not rule out a similar move against the Blues.
"We know that he can play that role particularly well for us but he's also a very, very handy midfielder where he's spent the bulk of his career. It'll depend on match-ups … but at different stages you'll probably find him in both positions throughout the course of the game," Clarkson said.
Hawthorn has won the past five encounters - and 10 of the past 12 - between the two sides.
"We prefer to look at more recent form over the last five or six games and certainly from that point of view they've been in pretty formidable form and we need to play our very best on the weekend to get the points," Clarkson said.