Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson expects Adelaide to stick with tall forward line without Taylor Walker Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson says the Hawks need to improve their clearance numbers. ALASTAIR Clarkson knows his Hawthorn side will confront a different looking Adelaide forward line at AAMI Stadium tomorrow. But he expects the Crows game plan to remain the same. Kurt Tippett is long gone and the Crows are now coming to terms with the fact Taylor Walker will miss the year with a knee injury. The loss of opposition forwards normally creates an air of unpredictability their line-up. But Clarkson suggested today counterpart Brenton Sanderson showed his hand at the selection table last night by selecting tall forward Shaun McKernan. "It would have been a little bit more unpredictable if just (Jason) Porplyzia came in and they went a bit smaller," Clarkson said. But I'd expect that they'd structure up pretty similarly to what they have in the last little while. We've just got to make sure we defend the way we've defended all year, no matter who the opponent is. Walker is such a huge presence for them, but McKernan is a big boy. He and the big fella (Josh) Jenkins give them a bit more flexibility in what they do with the ruck, too. They can take (Sam) Jacobs forward a little bit more often than they have in the past. So we've just got to be prepared for all those things tomorrow afternoon. The Hawks were smashed in the clinches by North Melbourne last week. They lost out in clearances and contested possessions as well as inside-50s but still managed to eek out a three-point win. Clarkson said a similar result in those key areas tomorrow would not augur well for his side. "It says something about our group that we still found a way to win but I'm not too confident that if all the stats are like that this week, that we'll get over the line against the Crows," he said. So we've got to make sure we're a bit more competitive in that area of the game.