INTERIM Hawthorn coach Brendon Bolton hopes Alastair Clarkson's presence around the club will continue to increase but cautioned that progress for the senior coach will be slow.
Clarkson was diagnosed with Guillan-Barre syndrome at the start of May and Bolton has stood in as coach for the past two games.
The Hawks have won both games and there is no rush for Clarkson to return but he has been around the club this week and dropping into coaching meetings.
"It's terrific to see 'Clarko' around the club and doing some rehab down in the pool and [coming into] some of the meetings so we really value his input," Bolton said.
"We'll continue to value his input and hopefully as time goes on he is in more than not."
Bolton said that it was good for Clarkson to have some stimulation as he recovers and pleasing for the coaching staff to have a chance to talk football with him.
But his health remained foremost in everyone's minds.
"He is progressing slowly," Bolton said. "It is something that progresses slowly but his mind is always active and he loves footy and it is just great to see him back and having conversations with us."
Bolton, in just his third game, will coach against Carlton, a team coached by Mick Malthouse as he enters his 700th game.
Bolton was impressed with the Blues and said his leaders would need to be hard and tough throughout the game to match Carlton.
He said the team would need to curtail in-form midfielder Bryce Gibbs' outside run but it was more a case of Hawthorn worrying about what it had to do than who was in or out of Carlton's team.
He did not reveal which talls Hawthorn would include, only saying the decision would be made later in the day.
David Hale and Ben McEvoy are chances to return from injury but incumbents Luke Lowden and Jonathon Ceglar performed well enough against West Coast to make it a tough call.
"Any selection decision is tough," Bolton said.
Lowden kicked three goals on debut after waiting on Hawthorn's list for six years before earning an opportunity.
Bolton did not look likely to shirk the tough calls.
Asked about his refreshing demeanour at post-match press conferences – a welcome contrast to the sometimes dour approaches of other coaches – Bolton played a straight bat.
"I just try and be myself," Bolton said.
"I don't read into those things too much. We've got a challenge this week [so] I haven't even given that any thought. [Carlton] was really hard at the contest last week and stayed in the game a long time so my focus has been purely on how I can worry about winning this game without worrying about that too much."
Hawthorn has not lost to Carlton since round six, 2005.
