Hawthorn duo Changkuoth Jiath and Luke Breust will be rested for this week's trip to Western Australia to face Fremantle.
Senior coach Sam Mitchell is weighing up a number of selection calls off the back of the club's fourth successive loss, with the decision to manage two key players set to shuffle the Hawks' pack again over the weekend.
Mitchell has detailed that both Breust and Jiath won't be required to fly over to Perth for Saturday night's clash, instead offering the pair a chance to rest following a busy schedule.
"This time is a tricky part of the year for us, we had a six-day break onto Marvel and then into a Perth travel," Mitchell told reporters on Thursday.
"So we knew we'd have to manage a couple players.
"CJ (Jiath) and Punky (Breust) have just been getting up for every game. So both will be managed this week to hopefully get their bodies back on top of it.
"So that gives us a little bit of flexibility with selection."
Mitchell will have a myriad of selection options to choose from for his side's Round 8 encounter with the Dockers, with former Fremantle tall Lloyd Meek putting his hand up for a recall after a fortnight in the VFL.
Meek recorded 46 hit-outs, 26 disposals and six clearances for Box Hill last weekend to place himself back in the selection frame, potentially linking up with Ned Reeves in order to help combat the Dockers' tall duo of Sean Darcy and Luke Jackson.
Mitchell confirmed Meek has impressed since being demoted to the VFL, but is no sure thing to earn a spot on the plane for WA.
"(Meek) went back to Box Hill and did what you hoped he would do, play AFL standard footy in the VFL," Mitchell said of his fringe ruckman.
"We've got match committee later today. We'd love to play him against his old side, but we've got to get the team balance right first.
"Their defence is really strong and underrated. We need to be careful with how we pick the team this week."
Second-year midfielder Connor MacDonald is another that has responded well to being omitted from Mitchell's side, amassing 37 disposals against Casey at the state league level after being dropped, while rookie Cam Mackenzie also had 30 touches in the defeat.
The Hawks will confirm their 22-man side at 6:20pm (AEST) on Thursday night.
