HAWTHORN has had a major boost ahead of the blockbuster preliminary final against arch-rival Geelong, with a trio of key players cleared of injury.

Jack Gunston, Jack Ginnivan and Jarman Impey were all sore after last week's barnstorming away semi-final win over Adelaide.

But coach Sam Mitchell said before Wednesday training that they will play against the Cats on Friday night at the MCG.

"Everyone's healthy, yeah," Mitchell said.

"'Gunners' doesn't train that much anyway. I don't know exactly what he's doing, but I don't imagine he's doing everything."

Gunston's five goals against Adelaide continued his outstanding All-Australian season, and Mitchell was asked if anything about the performance last Friday night had surprised him.

"Only just that he wandered off holding his hamstring late - it was a bit of a concern," Mitchell said of the veteran.

"But I was pleased it all came through clear.

"He's played some really consistent footy for us, in a tough role to be consistent."

The one serious injury last weekend was veteran Luke Breust, who has undergone surgery after badly damaging his knee in the VFL.

He had already announced this season would be his last.

"He's such an amazing person - his attitude to doing his knee in a game like that, there are a lot of different ways you can look at it," Mitchell said.

"He was saying 'well, the game doesn't owe me anything, and of all the games to do it, it's probably getting closer to the end, I'd rather do it then'.

"Is this the way he'd hope it would finish? Of course not."

Hawthorn has come from eighth to make the preliminary final, while Geelong has enjoyed the week off after its emphatic qualifying final win over Brisbane.

"It's pretty easy for me to sell to our players that you'd rather be us, but I don't imagine it's very hard for (Geelong coach) Chris Scott to sell 'well, we're a bit more rested'," Mitchell said.

"History will be told by the winner ... time will tell."

The Hawks made a hot start against Adelaide, killing off the game, and Mitchell laughed when asked if they could catch the Cats napping.

"Don't tell them we're coming, yeah," Mitchell said.

"We're ready for whatever comes.

"We've come this far playing a certain way, so we're not going to change it now."

Hawthorn and Geelong have a big history over the past two decades, featuring the "Kennett Curse", with plenty of memorable clashes.

"Our players, probably 10 of them, grew up Hawks fans, so some of them will bring it up and they have some old memories, things like that," Mitchell said.

"We've played some good footy without really hitting our straps. Probably last week, we were close to our best.

"We're in a confident position - I imagine Geelong are sitting down the highway, feeling pretty good about where they're at."

Mitchell spoke of "business as usual" this week at Waverley and noted they are not featuring in Brownlow Medal forecasts.

"I don't imagine we're going to be right at the top in the votes - we're probably not going to have a standout player," he said.

"We're going to be reasonably even across the group, and that's been a strength of what we've produced this year so far."