HAWTHORN is planning for the unexpected from Fremantle star Luke Jackson in Thursday night's blockbuster.
The third-placed Hawks will head to Perth to take on the Dockers, who are second on the back of a seven-game winning streak.
Fremantle has won seven of its past eight against Hawthorn and has only lost to the Hawks once at Optus Stadium, nine years ago.
One of the keys to the clash will be Jackson, who is in top form.
He will go up against Ned Reeves and Lloyd Meek in the ruck, but will also be a marking threat in attack.
"Having the two rucks gives us, on paper, an advantage against teams with someone like him," Hawks coach Sam Mitchell said of Jackson before Tuesday morning training.
"But having said that, Luke Jackson is quite a unique type of player, so he's going to give us a threat and create some problems for us.
"Can we test him the other way? Can we form our own threats? A bit of the game is going to be played out not exactly how you think.
"They played Jackson forward quite a bit last week and he was pretty potent in the air. We have a couple of strategies for him."
Hawks co-captain James Sicily will be a key to stopping Jackson when the Dockers big man goes into attack.
Sicily struggled with an ankle injury during last week's draw with Collingwood, but Mitchell is confident he will be ready for the Dockers.
"Technically I will say he has to get through training, but we expect him to play," Mitchell said.
The Hawks coach said Thursday night will be another good gauge of their progress.
"I feel like we have pretty good availability, we're in reasonable form," Mitchell said.
 "They're obviously the form team of the competition, seven on the bounce.
"They have some serious weapons all over the field and they're also quite systematic, the way they play.
"Can we improve our game enough to compete against the best sides? We play Freo on Thursday night in Perth – that's a big test that we feel like we're ready for."
