Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson admits prized recruit Shaun Burgoyne needs more fitness work and will miss at least the first two rounds of the AFL season.

A fully fit Burgoyne will be a strong addition to Hawthorn given his past achievements at Port Adelaide, where he was an effective clearance player and before that served as both a defensive springboard and a small forward.

But Burgoyne is unlikely to make a debut for his new club for at least a fortnight, as Clarkson suspected the knee troubles the 27-year-old experienced last year contributed to a hamstring injury he suffered during the pre-season.

Clarkson said Burgoyne's limited fitness base - he only played nine games last year - had provided the Hawks with "a little bit of a wake-up call" to tread carefully.

"We'd managed him pretty conservatively over the summer but the bottom line is he's done very little conditioning work on his body, at a real intense level, for the best part of 12 months," he said on Friday.

"He had an injury that really curtailed his year when he was at Port Adelaide and he came back and sustained a slight hamstring injury.

"Maybe it's a signal to us that we need to pull him back a little bit and give him a mini pre-season in a sense.

"So we're yet to determine how long that will be, but I don't think he'll be available for the first two or three rounds of the season."

The Hawks play Melbourne at the MCG on Saturday with several key players missing, as Lance Franklin and Chance Bateman are suspended and Cyril Rioli (groin) and Brad Sewell (collarbone) are injured.

Clarkson said Rioli was underdone after a limited pre-season but expected the half-forward to play Geelong in round two.

Hawthorn's other injury concerns are in the ruck, where Brent Renouf will be the sole specialist ruck against the Demons as Max Bailey (knee), Simon Taylor (leg) and Wayde Skipper (hamstring) are all unavailable.

Clarkson said forward Jarryd Roughead would provide relief when Renouf needed a breather.

"He'll (Renouf) do as he can for the majority of the game, and get some support from Roughy and others when he's not there," he said.

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