Brutally honest Brisbane Lions coach Leigh Matthews was at it again.

Days after sensationally revealing his guilt over the infamous 1985 Neville Bruns incident in light of Sydney forward Barry Hall's ban, Matthews made another surprising admission - albeit not on such a grand scale.

Matthews admitted he was throwing an "underdone" Ash McGrath in against heavyweight Hawthorn at the Gabba on Saturday night in a desperate bid to find ground level goals.

Small forward McGrath will play his first game of the season after coming back from knee and ankle complaints.

At least ruckman Jamie Charman is not an injury concern any longer after passing a fitness test on Friday.

Charman pulled out before last round's miraculous comeback win over Port Adelaide with a calf complaint.

Matthews conceded McGrath was still behind the eight ball in his recovery - but will still blood him against the high flying Hawks.

"He is underdone and he is not in as good a condition as we would like him to be," Matthews said.

"The main quality is that he has got speed.

"(And) we are not getting enough ground level goals.

"When you have got big forwards inevitably they are a bit slow on the chase because they are big marking targets.

"So you try to supplement quickness around your big marking forwards."

McGrath will hope to add crumbing goals, complementing what Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson on Friday described as the AFL's "most potent forward line going around at the moment" - Jonathan Brown and Daniel Bradshaw.

The pair have thumped in a combined 29 goals in four games.

While Matthews was the first to admit that he had fast-tracked McGrath's return, Clarkson denied that he had done the same with Trent Croad.

The tall defender was expected to miss another three weeks due to a dislocated wrist.

Croad was considered the Hawthorn defender with the ideal physical size to counter the mammoth Brown or Bradshaw.

But Clarkson denied that he had rushed Croad into the Gabba clash.

"Initially they thought his injury would take five or six weeks to recover but with a dislocation you just need to wait until it settles," Clarkson told reporters in Melbourne.

"He's a strange type of beast the big 'Croady' - he recovers very, very quickly from any sort of traumatic injury.

"Part of it's because he's just a big, strong brute, but part of it's too is that when he does get injured he's able to rehabilitate himself so quickly."

Croad is one of three news Hawthorn faces - captain Sam Mitchell also returns after being a late withdrawal on Sunday and Jordan Lewis resumes following suspension.

Clarkson said he hoped a talk with the leadership group had taught Lewis a valuable lesson about discipline.

Lewis missed the first two weeks of the season due to a suspension from the 2007 finals and when he returned in round three, he was banned for striking.

"I think the penny will drop at some point in time when he realises that it's not doing him any good or the team when he's sitting in the stands," Clarkson said.

The undefeated Hawks (4-0) have not won at the Gabba since round 18, 2000.

Lions co-captain Luke Power celebrates his 200th game.

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