Speaking prior to training on Thursday, Hawks coach Alistair Clarkson confirmed that Hodge had not recovered sufficiently from the groin complaint that led to him being substituted out of last Friday night's encounter with Essendon.

"Hodgey won't play. It's too early in the season to be taking risks," Clarkson said.

The coach was considerably more confident though that Mitchell, who was a late withdrawal against the Bombers with a calf injury, would be ready to confront the Dockers.

"At this point Sam thinks he'll be right to play.

"If he gets through training, we're hoping he's going to play."

Clarkson confirmed that injured trio Brad Sewell (hamstring), Ben Stratton (hamstring/calf) and Ryan Schoenmakers (knee) will all play for Box Hill this weekend in the VFL.

However the dual premiership coach flagged that key defender Brian Lake would not return immediately to the AFL team next round.

Lake was unavailable for the opening three games of the season having been suspended for striking Docker Michael Walters in last year's grand final, and Clarkson admitted that Lake had been hampered by a calf ailment sustained in training.

"We'll get some game time into (Lake) before he returns to the senior side."

The Hawks coach said he had been impressed by what he had seen from last year's runners-up thus far in 2014.

"They're going well, Fremantle are playing good footy. They're playing better than us at the moment.

"We think we can play better than we have in the last week or two."