A trio of fringe Hawks could be considered for selection this week as senior coach Sam Mitchell weighs multiple plans for Saturday's encounter with Melbourne.
While Hawthorn is likely to move into Round 2 with a "reasonably settled lineup" following their loss to Essendon, the Hawks coach may consider bolstering his defence with more height and help for skipper James Sicily.
Following his successful trip to the AFL Tribunal this week, Sicily is free to play but could welcome another forward tag from a member of Melbourne's attack, much like Bomber Matt Guelfi's role that helped negate the All-Australian defender in their season opener.
A structural change that could see pre-season recruit Ethan Phillips or third-year backman Jai Serong come into Mitchell's side will be in the mix at selection, while young midfielder Henry Hustwaite was another to impress in Box Hill's 46-point pre-season win over Essendon's reserves last week.
"They both had really good games for Box Hill on the weekend going into Round 1 for Box Hill this week, which is exciting," Mitchell said of Phillips and Serong when speaking to media on Thursday.
"We've got some players who didn't play on the weekend who are in good form. Henry Hustwaite was probably the one who was the stiffest not to play last week, he went back to Box Hill and had 30 touches again.
"I don't think we'll see too many changes this week. We'll go in with a reasonably settled lineup.
"This is not a game where we want to change everything in the way that we went about it [last week]. We've done a lot of work over the pre-season to give us a chance to put ourselves in winnable positions more often.
"We were able to do that in week one, and it's another challenge this week against the Dees, who are one of the best teams and have been for a very long period in the competition."
Micthell and his coaching cohort are continuing to work behind closed doors on a plan that could help Sicily if he is to attract an attacking tagger from Melbourne this week.
A role for the Hawks' own versatile stopper in Blake Hardwick remains unclear, with the Hawks still weighing up his best fit as of Thursday morning.
The threat of Kysaiah Pickett in the Hawks' defence will give Mitchell some thought to hold Hardwick in the backline despite the veteran backman spending his summer up the other end of the field, with the likes of Jack Ginnivan, Nick Watson, Luke Breust and Dylan Moore already requiring attacking roles.
Mitchell avoided a clear answer as to whether midfielder tagger Finn Maginness would have a run-with role on Demons star Clayton Oliver, who was kept to under 15 disposals for the first time since 2020 when the two sides met last year.
Oliver returned to fine form in Round 1 against the Bulldogs with 35 disposals and six clearances, adding some weight to the idea of Maginness starting against Melbourne instead of coming in as the sub like he did last week.
Maginness was brought into the Bombers clash and attempted to quell Essendon captain Zach Merrett, who still managed a team-high 16 second-half touches.
The Hawks will name their 23-man squad at 6:20pm (AEDT) on Thursday ahead of Saturday's clash with Melbourne.
