Of course Collingwood will be fired up for Saturday night's AFL clash - Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson says they know no other way.

The Magpies are coming off a tough week, where they botched their chance to beat St Kilda last Friday night and then coach Mick Malthouse had to apologise for his abusive comment to Saints player Stephen Milne at quarter-time.

Hawthorn also belted Collingwood in their most recent meeting last year and have a four-game winning streak against them ahead of Saturday night's big MCG match.

"I don't know Collingwood playing any other way, so how much can they generate any more emotion from the events of the week?," Clarkson said

"All we can control is how we prepare for the game, I thought the game last (Sunday, against the Western Bulldogs) was a fantastically-competitive affair between two sides that were having a genuine crack.

"I don't think it's going to be any different with the `Pies and Hawthorn this week."

The Hawks are weaker through the loss of star forward Lance Franklin (suspension) and key defender Josh Gibson (hamstring injury), plus they are coming off losses to Geelong and the `Dogs.

But Hawthorn will be confident, given they were very competitive in those two matches, against opponents who are favoured to make the top four.

"We're pretty happy with the way we've been going, we've played three pretty good games of footy - we've played against a couple of formidable opponents in the Dogs and the Cats," Clarkson said.

"We've been in winning positions on both occasions ... we feel like we're playing a good brand of footy.

"We're just having a little bit of trouble at the moment in stabilising our side, a lot of guys coming in and out of the side.

"That will come to us over the next two or three weeks with some luck and hopefully in that time we can notch up a couple of victories."

Among the Hawks inclusions is premiership player Clinton Young, who has been out of action since round five last year with hamstring and hip injuries.

Clarkson commented on Franklin's suspension for his bump on Bulldogs veteran Jason Akermanis, saying he supported the AFL crackdown on head-high contact.

But Clarkson and the Hawks are mystified that Franklin received one week for an incident where Akermanis was not injured, but other incidents far more serious this year have gone unpunished.

In particular, West Coast's Josh Kennedy escaped sanction for a bump that left Melbourne midfielder Colin Sylvia with a broken jaw.

"The AFL have gone down the right track with protecting the head, it's really just the interpretation and consistency of review panels from week to week, just making sure they get that right," Clarkson said.

Franklin would have escaped with a reprimand, but for his poor tribunal record.

Also, the league say Kennedy, unlike Franklin, had no other realistic alternative to laying the bump.

Kennedy also satisfied six criteria before the match review panel cleared him of the contact with Sylvia.

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