Hawthorn captain Luke Hodge is free to play in the club's qualifying final against West Coast after being fined $5000 by the Hawks' leadership group for drink-driving.

Hodge, who was fined $450 by police and lost 10 demerit points after registering a blood-alcohol reading of 0.068 last Thursday night, will pay the fine to a road trauma charity, a sanction determined by the Hawks' on-field leaders at a meeting held immediately after their 57-point win over Carlton at the MCG on Saturday.

Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson conceded that a player of lesser standing may have faced a club suspension. But he mounted a strong defence of his skipper, who he said had been "an absolute ornament to our club and the game, and this isn't commonplace for him".

And while the Hodge issue dominated post-match discussion at the MCG, Hawthorn also faces the prospect of being without running midfielder Isaac Smith, who left the field four minutes into Saturday's third quarter with what appeared to be a medial ligament strain.

"He just rattled his knee in some way," Clarkson said. "I'm not sure of the severity of it. We don't think it's too bad, but we'll just have to wait and see. We'll get it scanned early in the week, whether it's jarred or more on the medial side we'll just need to get that checked out."

The Hawks, however, will regain small forwards Luke Breust and Cyril Rioli, the latter a late withdrawal against Carlton after a bout of gastroenteritis.

Clarkson said Hodge had been shaken by the fall-out from his mistake. He said while it was "up to the outside world to judge" the appropriateness of Hodge's penalty, having dealt with the matter, the club now expected to move on.

"I will say that there are protocols according to the Victorian police, and they've been imposed, there are protocols according to the footy club, and they've been imposed, and then there's the social and moral police out there. They're the ones we're not going to listen to too much because everyone will have a say on this, everyone will have an opinion on it."

Asked if the club had seriously considered suspending their captain, Clarkson responded: "We've got a whole raft of different approaches to take to that, and our leadership group and the executive of the footy club didn't think it was of a level to warrant a suspension in this case."

Clarkson recalled his suspension of Hodge early in his tenure as Hawthorn coach after the player had missed training following a 21st birthday celebration. "That was nearly the last time he had any trouble."

And he asked for understanding for his skipper, whom he said had suffered severe public humiliation in the wake of the incident.

"How many times have we all had to make the decision that he tried to make on Thursday night and got wrong?" he asked.

"He hadn't had a drink for two hours, he drank water then thought to himself that he should be OK to drive home. If we go out and straw poll the general public and the people in this room, I'm sure many of us would put our hand up and say that could have been me a few times, and that is the reality.

"Is it correct? No. And he needs to be penalised, by the law and by the footy club. But in terms of social and moral police, I think just a little bit of empathy and understanding would be pretty handy here, too."

Outgoing Carlton caretaker coach John Barker, meanwhile, said the Blues needed to make bold choices at the trade and draft table to get the Blues back on track for success after Saturday's loss ensured the club's fourth wooden spoon since 2002.

Barker said he hoped ruckman Matthew Kreuzer would stay with the Blues. "He's a very good player, he's important to the club and I think he's a Carlton person and will be going forward," he said.

He said he would seek "clean air" to think about whether he wanted to stay on as an assistant under new coach Brendon Bolton.

"My timetable now's sitting next to me," he said, pointing to his four-year-old son Mac, who accompanied him to his final press conference as Carlton coach. "I'm pretty keen to spend some time with the family over the next little while.

"I'll be in at the club for the first couple of days of the week just for some of the exit, review-type interviews with the players but I'm just keen to get around family and spend a little bit of time with them and then work out what I do going forward."

On an emotional afternoon, both teams ran through a banner in both Hawthorn and Carlton colours which bore the message: "Family. RIP Cooper Ratten", a tribute to Hawk assistant coach and former Carlton senior coach Brett Ratten's16-year-old son Cooper, who was killed in a car accident three weeks ago.