HAWTHORN is nearing full strength with ruckman Ben McEvoy close to a return and defenders James Sicily and Grant Birchall back in training.

McEvoy suffered a fractured cheekbone against the Western Bulldogs in round 16 but trained last week and again on Tuesday.

"'Macca’s' going really well with his recovery," Hawks high performance manager Andrew Russell told hawthornfc.com.au. "He trained last week, trained today and we expect to see him out there in the next one to two weeks."

After this weekend’s blockbuster against Geelong, the Hawks (12-7) play St Kilda and Sydney before the end of the season, which would give him two matches under his belt if they end up making the finals. They need to win two of their three remaining games to be absolutely certain of playing in September.

Birchall, who hasn’t played at all this season because of various knee issues, is in the latter stages of his 'mini pre-season' and the plan is that he will play in two weeks, perhaps straight back at AFL level.

Sicily is the interesting one. 

"Scaphoid injuries can be challenging because you never quite know how they’re healing, but his function is good, he’s back training and it’s all looking good at this stage," Russell said.

"We’ll need to rescan in the next few weeks and decide when we’ll see him out there again this year."

Midfielder Will Langford will miss three weeks after straining his hamstring in the VFL, while young key forward Mitch Lewis will miss a week or two with a sore shoulder.