Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson is adamant star forward Lance Franklin will play in Saturday night's AFL match against Richmond.

There are persistent rumours Franklin rolled an ankle at Thursday training.

Adding to the speculation, Franklin and captain Luke Hodge were in running shoes and only did stationary skill work as their team-mates had a light run on Friday at Waverley.

But Clarkson said it was nothing more than managing the two key players through a shorter break between games.

"Someone's seen something I didn't see - we're expecting he's going to play and there was no incident at training," Clarkson said of Franklin.

"We have a six-day break, he just had a lighter week in terms of his training."

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