Three fresh injuries to defenders will force Hawthorn to begin their AFL premiership defence with a backline well short of a decent preparation.

Backmen Stephen Gilham (knee), Campbell Brown (ankle) and Grant Birchall (suspected hamstring) were all forced from the field during the Hawks' 24-point defeat by Carlton in Sunday's pre-season game at Docklands.

Already with about half of last year's premiership side sitting in the stands, the injuries forced Hawks coach Alastair Clarkson to alter his plans for the game, as he gave more game time to his younger players.

Although none of the injuries is serious, the trio appears unlikely to make the trip next weekend to Berri, where the Hawks will play a practice game against Adelaide as consequence of their 2.13.16 (112) to 2.10.10 (88) defeat.

Hawthorn were again without defenders Trent Croad, Luke Hodge and Rick Ladson on Sunday and Clarkson admitted the fresh injuries would present a challenge in assembling a well-prepared backline for the grand final re-match against Geelong on March 27.

"There's no doubting our defence is a bit decimated at the moment," he said.

"We'll wait and assess how serious those injuries are, but we'd hope we've got a pretty settled defence come round one, minus Croad (who is yet to return from the serious foot injury he suffered in the grand final)."

On top of those absentees, Hawthorn appear unlikely to have the likes of Lance Franklin, Jordan Lewis, Stuart Dew or Michael Osborne make the trip to country South Australia.

"As it is we'll be really hard-pressed to put a senior side together up in Berri," Clarkson said.

"We need to make sure that our focus is clearly on round one and the best preparation for tackling the Cats in that game."

Of more encouragement was Hawthorn's start against a near full-strength Carlton.

The Hawks booted five goals in the first quarter and led by 30 points early in the second quarter, until Brendan Fevola sparked Carlton's comeback.

A nine-point major late in the second term brought the Blues to 13 points, and his three goals in the third quarter gave Carlton all the momentum, by which stage Hawthorn's priority was on player management.

Jarryd Roughead had starred for the Hawks with five goals, but was rested 10 minutes into the last quarter.

"We just ran out of soldiers," Clarkson said.

"I nearly had to put the boots on myself at the end of the game.

"We were pretty pleased, particularly with the first half.

"When the whips were cracking and the game was on, our boys were terrific."

Carlton coach Brett Ratten was pleased with his side's fightback, but said it could not afford to concede what he likened to giving "Might and Power a six-length head-start".

"When you're close to five goals down the pendulum's swinging pretty much in their favour and it was a credit to our blokes to chip back," Ratten said.

"But we wouldn't want to be doing that at the start of too many games."

Ratten said given the calibre of Hawthorn's absentees, the reigning premier would again be a "force to be reckoned with".

"Maybe if those players were in the team we might not have got back to the five-goal head-start we gave them," he said.

Brought to you by AAP © 2024 AAP