Franklin: Not much in Tarrant hit

Hawthorn superstar Lance Franklin is bracing himself for a repeat of the roughhouse tactics that Collingwood backman Chris Tarrant employed against him on Friday night.

Tarrant made a concerted effort to put Franklin off his game in the first qualifying final with overly aggressive and physical attention.

But Franklin still finished the match with 4.3 to go with his 18 touches, seven marks and three score assists.

The Hawks forward said he wouldn't be bothered by more close checking later in the finals and even revealed he enjoyed his fiery tete-a-tete with Tarrant.

"It was a good little battle," Franklin said at Waverley Park on Monday.

"We've played against each other for a number of years now and I enjoyed it. It was really good.

"Once you cross the white line, anything can happen in football."

Tarrant is sure to come under scrutiny from the match review panel for one particular incident in his running battle with Franklin.

The retiring defender landed a forceful swinging arm to Franklin's midriff but the star Hawk didn't think there was much in it.

Hawthorn comfortably accounted for Collingwood without key players Jordan Lewis and Clinton Young who will almost certainly return for their preliminary final engagement with either Adelaide or Fremantle in a fortnight's time.

It's not the first time this year the minor premiers have seamlessly covered the losses of injured players with the likes of Franklin and inspirational skipper Luke Hodge, in particular, missing big chunks of the season.

And Franklin said it had taken a long time for his team to finally cultivate their coveted list depth.

"We've got a pretty mature group at the moment and we've played a lot of footy together so if a guy does go out we've got guys that can cover those blokes," Franklin said.

"It's taken a long time for that to happen as a footy club but we're slowly getting there."

Brendan Whitecross is another player Hawthorn will have to do with out for the remainder of the year after he ruptured his ACL against the Magpies.

And while he appeared to be in extraordinarily good spirits post-match, goalsneak Cyril Rioli anticipated his mindset may take a turn for the worse in the coming weeks.

"Once we do start playing footy again, I think it might hit him," Rioli said.

Meanwhile, Franklin ominously declared there was still more improvement left in him and the high-flying Hawks as the AFL season heads towards its crescendo.

"I haven't really put together a four-quarter performance ... it'd be good just to get four quarters under my belt," Franklin said.

"On the weekend I think that was probably one of our better performances, we played a good four-quarter game, it was really hot early and we stood up to the pressure."

Franklin wasn't fussed by having a week off this week but Rioli said it was going to be tough to put the feet up.

"I think the boys would love to be playing this week, having the week off it's a bit difficult, other teams are playing a dress rehearsal for the finals," said Rioli.

The Hawks are scheduled to play their preliminary final on Saturday before the premiership decider.

But despite finishing on top of the ladder, Franklin didn't seem bothered at the prospect of having one less day's break than a potential grand final opponent if they were to win their preliminary final.

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