Hawthorn have given star forward Lance Franklin the green light to line up against St Kilda on Friday night in match the Hawks must win if they are to stay in the hunt for a possible top-four finish.

Franklin missed last week's demolition of Brisbane due to a rolled ankle but coach Alastair Clarkson said he was now fully recovered.

"He trained well on Tuesday and we've been really pleased with his progress," Clarkson said on Thursday.

"He was pretty close last Friday but we just didn't want to take a risk and (wanted to) get him right for the last six weeks of the season."

Clarkson said his side had been working to try to recapture its grand final-winning form of 2008 but admitted they still lagged behind the top four on the AFL ladder.

"The Saints and the Cats have probably been the benchmark sides over the past 18 months," said Clarkson.

"We thought to ourselves at the end of 2008 that we were going to be in that top echelon as well and then fell away drastically over the course of a 12-month period.

"So we've worked really hard as a club over the last eight to 10 weeks to try and put ourselves back in a position where we could feature later in September.

"But we've still got a long way to go and tomorrow night will be a great test for us.

"St Kilda, we've got enormous admiration for the way they've gone about it over the last 18 months to two years under Ross (Lyon) and we still feel that they're a team that they're chasing.

"It will be a really good contest for us - we've been pleased with the way we've clawed our way back into the season over the last three months but it will be a really big test tomorrow night."

The Hawks are sixth on the ladder, two games behind the fourth-placed Fremantle, who also face a tough challenge away to the Western Bulldogs this weekend.

Earlier this week Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett reiterated his criticism of the Etihad Stadium surface and Clarkson supported him on Thursday, while saying there was little the club could do.

"We've got no control over the surface. All we're probably trying to do is heighten awareness," Clarkson said.

"The biggest concern with the surface is the different texture from one part of the ground to the next.

"That's the difficulty really - players might have one type of boot on which suits one part of the surface but not the other.

"There's been a lot of drums beating - not just within our own club and our players, but right across the AFL that the surface perhaps hasn't been of the quality and condition of some of the other surfaces around the competition.

"It's not up to us to determine whether the game goes ahead or not. That's up to the AFL.

"All we want to do from time to time is make the AFL aware that there are parts of the surface that aren't as good as perhaps some of the other grounds."

Brought to you by AAP © 2024 AAP