Hawthorn publicly rallied around banned midfielder Travis Tuck on Thursday, but coach Alastair Clarkson believes the Hawks could have done much more had the AFL told the club about his problems earlier.

Tuck returned to training with the Hawks just two days after he became the first AFL player to fall foul of the league's "three strikes" illicit drugs policy.

Surrounded by his teammates, the 22-year-old marched on to Waverley Park and trained fully.

Clarkson vowed the club would do all it could to help Tuck, whose drug use and clinical depression were exposed publicly when he was found unconscious in a car last Friday night.

But Clarkson joined the chorus of those saying both Tuck and the club would have been better off had the Hawks known of the 22-year-old's issues prior to last weekend.

Under the AFL illicit drugs policy, there is a confidentiality aspect under which the club is not informed until a player returns a third positive drug test.

Hawthorn's key officials and football department did not know the extent of Tuck's problems - and the fact he had twice previously tested positive to drugs - until after his third strike.

"I do know that if we were able to support Trav a little bit earlier, than maybe last Friday night wouldn't have occurred," Clarkson said.

"I think it would help everyone - it certainly would have helped me as a coach - had I known.

"I didn't know anything about his depression ... you think back through the year and the cut-throat nature of AFL footy and the manner you've spoken to him, the way you've handled him.

"If you'd known about his mental illness and illicit drug taking, you may have been more tolerant or treated him in a different light."

Clarkson admitted the revelations of the past week had helped him understand why Tuck had struggled football-wise in 2010 - rarely coming into discussion for senior selection.

"Some things that have transpired over the past 18 months - we now have a greater understanding and empathy for why Trav hasn't developed as a footballer as well as we would have liked.

"To play topline elite sport requires a lot of things to be going right and if your life is unstable outside of footy, it makes it enormously difficult to play good footy week to week.

"Now some of these things have started to unfold, we've got a lot greater understanding and empathy - I think we've all learnt."

Clarkson believes getting back into the routine of training - despite his ban from playing games - will be a boost for Tuck.

"We're very, very concerned for his welfare, and we're going to do everything we can to make sure he gets back to being the Travis Tuck we know," Clarkson said.

"Part of that process is getting him back among the players, and back into the routine of playing footy again."

Clarkson was confident the dramas of the past week would not affect the Hawks' focus ahead of their elimination final against Fremantle in Perth on Saturday.

The Hawks regain star defender Luke Hodge, who trained fully on Thursday to show he had recovered from a knee injury.

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