Prized recruit Brian Lake’s debut with his new AFL club Hawthorn has been delayed by the injury to Fremantle skipper Matthew Pavlich.
The former Bulldogs defender was on the radar of Hawks coach Alastair Clarkson to make his first appearance for the club in the Launceston clash on Saturday afternoon.
But Clarkson said the achilles injury to Pavlich, who has been ruled out for up to six weeks, meant Lake didn’t fit into their structure.
Lake has played the last two games with Hawthorn’s VFL affiliate Box Hill.
“With Pavlich going out of their side and them not replacing him with a tall type of forward, they’re probably going to go with a different type of structure so it’s a little bit to do with the structure of the side,” said Clarkson.
“He’s played two games and another game at VFL level won’t hurt him.
“We recruited him for a specific reason so he’s going to come into our side pretty soon.”
The Hawks, who are coming off a 55-point win over Collingwood, have veteran midfielder Michael Osborne as a handy replacement for their injured Rising Star nominee Jed Anderson.
The 19-year-old won the nomination for his performance against the Magpies before scans early in the week revealed a hamstring injury that’s set to sideline him for a few weeks.
Clarkson said while he felt for Anderson, it was good to have the experienced Osborne back on deck.
“Ossie’s spent nearly 12 months out of the game now,” he said.
“He’s had a really good rehab and trained really well over the summer, just needed to get some match fitness in the first couple of games of the season.
“He’s done that and he’s ready to come into our side, so that’s great.”
The match pits the game’s best attacking team against Fremantle, who are renowned for their unrelenting defensive pressure and who will be desperate to atone for their late fade-out against Essendon.
“It will be a great contest, both sides are playing good footy,” said Clarkson.
“They’ve got a really disciplined group of players and we’d like to think we’re in a similar vein as well.”
