Hawks lose eight flags among AFL changes

A count of the AFL premierships among the ins and outs this week is another demonstration of the changing times at Hawthorn.

A plague of injuries meant the Hawks had to make four changes for Saturday night's match against Collingwood at the MCG.

Between them, injured players Cyril Rioli (four), Ben Stratton (three), James Frawley (one) and Jack Fitzpatrick have won eight flags in Hawthorn's latest golden era.

Taylor Duryea's two premierships are the only ultimate prizes among their replacements, with Brendan Whitecross, Ty Vickery and Kaiden Brand also coming in to the side.

The Hawks are in transition and Collingwood are well-placed to break their nine-game losing streak against them.

The Magpies have never beaten Hawthorn with Nathan Buckley as coach, but his Hawthorn counterpart Alastair Clarkson has dismissed the streak.

"They've been in every game that they've played (this season)," Clarkson said of Collingwood.

"They're 2-6, but they could quite easily be 5-3 or 6-2 - they've played some good footy.

"We've been a bit more inconsistent than them, to be fair."

Clarkson said a positive for the Hawks was that their VFL affiliates Box Hill have made an unbeaten start to the season, meaning the recalled players are in good form.

Vickery leads Box Hill's goalkicking after he was dropped from the senior team for round four.

The tall forward, who has cut off his distinctive long hair, continues to polarise opinion since joining Hawthorn this season from Richmond.

"He's snipped off those locks and hopefully that's a good omen, he plays some good footy for us," Clarkson said.

"Both he at Box Hill and the (AFL) side in the last three or four weeks have played a little bit better, so I'm really pleased he gets his opportunity.

"Hopefully we're moving the ball a bit differently than what we were in the first three or four games - we just couldn't get it down to our forwards."

Clarkson defended Vickery, saying he went back to Box Hill with the right attitude.

"He's an experienced player, a respected member of two clubs now," he said.

"He's highly-regarded at Richmond and he is here as well.

"He went back in the right manner, played some good footy and hopefully that transfers in to some good (AFL) footy, because he has played a lot of good senior footy over eight years."

Meanwhile, Clarkson said Rioli would not need knee surgery and expects him to play again this season.

"He's in a brace and the specialists have decided they don't need to do surgery at this point in time," he said.

"It's really just making sure that ligament just screws up a little bit and hopefully he'll be right to go in the later part of the season."