CROWS coach Neil Craig is mindful of being too focused on Lance Franklin when his side tackles Hawthorn at Aurora Stadium on Sunday.

The Hawks star has enjoyed a scorching start to the season to lead the league's goalkicking with 15 goals, ahead of Adelaide's Simon Goodwin who has 12.

However, Franklin painfully ended the Crows' 2007 campaign when he kicked seven goals in the elimination final - stealing victory in the dying seconds of that game.

But Craig said there was danger in concentrating too much on the one match-up.

“Hawthorn has a pretty well settled forward line,” he said.

“You’ve got Jarryd Roughead, who is obviously in some form, you’ve got Franklin, who we know about it, Tim Boyle, who has played some reasonable footy up there, and also young Cyril Rioli, who looks pretty exciting. So we’ll obviously consider all of those.

“I understand why the Franklin one is topical, but we’ve been through that all before in the NAB Cup and it will be no different for this game.”

Defender Kris Massie, who stood Franklin in last year’s elimination final, has been ruled out with a hamstring injury. That means the job will fall to one of four men - Nathan Bock, Ben Rutten, Nathan Bassett or Scott Stevens.

Bock and Rutten tag-teamed Franklin in the NAB Cup clash earlier this year and the in-form Bock is emerging as the likely candidate for Buddy on Sunday.

“We’ve got Bock, Rutten, Bassett and Stevens who can play on him, so we’ve got some flexibility down there just as they have some flexibility in their forward line,” Craig said.

“Franklin finished with four goals in the NAB Cup and I think he got three in the last quarter. He’s a dangerous player and, sometimes, with players like that you think you’ve got them under control. Because of their talent and the way they play, they can do something exceptional in a short period of time.

“Of course when they have a fantastic day they can kick the seven, eight, nine or 10 goals, as we have seen.

“But we’re reasonably confident with that we can put against them defensively.”

Last week, North Melbourne played defender Josh Gibson one-on-one with Franklin. Coach Dean Laidley also employed the use of a ‘chop-out’ player to intercept passes to Buddy inside the forward 50m.

Craig said it would take more than just one player to curb the influence of Franklin and the other Hawthorn forwards.

“It’s always the same with any team you play - it’s a team responsibility,” Craig said.

“Offence is a team responsibility and defence is a team responsibility.

“If one of their forwards gets out of control, yes, there will be some spotlight put on the person who is standing him.

“But it won’t be all his fault. I guarantee it.”