Alastair Clarkson has floated the idea of the Hawks blooding up to three debutants in the club's Round 1 clash against Essendon on Saturday night. 

Jacob Koschitzke, Tyler Brockman and Connor Downie were the three youngsters who impressed most in the AAMI Community Series win over North Melbourne.

Koschitzke and Brockman combined for nine goals in the side's victory, while Downie picked up 17 disposals.

“They’re going to be right in the mix to play and for our supporters it’s really exciting because supporters haven’t seen anything of Brockman because he hasn’t been on our list and Koschitzke’s had an up and down couple of years on our list with injuries and whatnot.”

Harry hopeful of a bump in midfield minutes in 2021

On the eve of the 2021 season, the four-time premiership coach said both the club and broader competition are going through a transitional period. 

“That’s going to be exciting for our footy club.

"I think it’s a little bit of a new frontier both for our club and the competition.

“The competition has been stripped back, it’s as lean as it’s ever been in the professional era in terms of the soft cap and how efficient football departments need to run now and that’ll have an impact both positively and negatively in terms of the way that it’s managed.

“The new rule changes will be a new frontier in terms of the way the game is played and then our new frontier in terms of Hawthorn is we’ve had five guys either retire or go to other clubs over the summer and we’ve got a new wave of players coming in who are trying to forge their path and find the next piece of silverware for Hawthorn.

“That’s a really exciting time for our club and we’re looking forward to seeing what this season brings for us because anything can happen in a season of footy.”

The Bombers and Hawks face off on Saturday night at Marvel Stadium.