Hawks preparing for Chris Tarrant to play forward

HAWTHORN defender Josh Gibson says the Hawks can counter Collingwood's born-again forward Chris Tarrant at the MCG on Saturday.

Chris Tarrant

HAWTHORN defender Josh Gibson says the Hawks can counter Collingwood's born-again forward Chris Tarrant at the MCG on Saturday.

The Pies played forward-turned-defender Tarrant in attack in the club's 31-point win against Geelong, giving them three tall targets with Travis Cloke and Chris Dawes.

"We had 'Gilly' (Stephen Gilham) come back in on the weekend, and that gave us the luxury of playing 'Schoey' (Ryan Schoenmakers) forward," Gibson said.

"So I guess if they went tall, we could always bring 'Schoey' back."

Hawks skipper Luke Hodge trained at the weekend after another injury setback with a swollen knee.

"I'd say it will be a couple of weeks, but it's still early in the week so I don't know if he's going to pull off a miracle," Gibson said.

Hawthorn won by 22 points when the teams last met, in Round 1.

The Hawks crushed the Western Bulldogs by 72 points on Sunday to move into the top four and set the scene for a blockbuster clash.

Gibson said the match would be a great test for his side and a good measure of how the Hawks were travelling.

"They (Collingwood) have been the in-form side this year . . . it lets us see where we're at as a group and it's going to be a really good measuring stick," he said.