ALASTAIR Clarkson says the fact Hawthorn pair Brian Lake and David Hale had shown signs their bodies were breaking down throughout the season led to the decisions for them to retire this week.

While Hale, 31, admitted his body was battered after 237 games, Lake – although content with hanging up the boots – said he would have preferred to go on.

But Clarkson says the two struggled throughout the year as the Hawks put them through the twice-weekly medicals all their players are subject to.

"With 'Lakey' and 'Haley'... the thing that we observed through our testing of our players … we noticed with both those boys they were starting to wane in terms of what they were able to contribute on-field as a result of their physical capabilities," Clarkson said on Friday.

Back to the future for Lake

"Not that it would be known to the general football public."

The testing is done to assess the players' "medical and physical condition", with the Hawks needing to manage six players over 30 this season.

 But Clarkson said they generally ignored a player's "birth certificate", and would continue to do so when it came to their other veterans.

"Guys like [Shaun] Burgoyne and [Luke] Hodge and [Josh] Gibson and [Sam] Mitchell, they've all had as good a season as they've ever had," he said.

"As soon as their bodies start to head that way, we'll send them out with the other two we sent out this year.

"But for as long as they continue to play good footy, they'll continue to play for our footy club, no matter what their birth certificate says."

While many expected the Hawks to be largely about downtime and celebrating this week, Clarkson clarified it was actually the club's busiest time of the year.

Amidst a day trip to Tasmania to show off their three pieces of silverware, the premiers endured a string of exit interviews and medicals over a two-day period.

Clarkson and football manager Chris Fagan crammed 15 hours of work – albeit with what the four-time premiership coach described as a "dusty head" - into Monday and Tuesday as they spent at least half an hour each with around 30 players.

Clarkson said it was imperative the Hawks had all their players physically assessed ahead of next season after learning an important lesson in 2008.

"We made the mistake after 2008 when we won the flag that we didn't do really, really strong medicals with our players, and nor did we have strong dialogue with our players immediately post Grand Final," he said.

"The whole club was just that excited and ecstatic with winning the flag we didn't think about 2009 until six weeks later.

"We made a terrible error and 2009 ended up being a disaster for our footy club.

"As hard as it is, nearly the most important week for 2016 is this week.

"If we don't get it right, we're a hell of a lot behind the eight ball."

Clarkson, speaking at the 'Roaring Forties Club' Post Grand Final lunch at Melbourne's Sofitel hotel, conceded there had been some tough talks with players this week.

Lake and Hale were among those, as were delisted trio Alex Woodward, Sam Grimley and Jared Hardisty.

But he said the club knew just how important it was to get the week right.

"For every club, it's a really difficult period to go through because for some players, the exit interview is a genuine exit," he said.

"Some exit interviews, it's just, 'See you later for 6-8 weeks and we'll see you in mid-November or at the start of December'.

"Three or four players are no longer going to be at your club, like 'Lakey' and 'Haley'. They're not easy conversations to have.

"It's tough yards but they're the most important couple of days of our year."