VETERAN Hawthorn ruckman Ben McEvoy will embrace the “daunting” ruck task against West Coast duo Nic Naitanui and Scott Lycett on his own, but would welcome the return of teammate Jonathon Ceglar in a two-pronged attack.

The Hawks made six changes before Sunday’s shock loss to Brisbane and are likely to make more this week, with Jaeger O’Meara expected to return from a week out with a corked calf and defender James Frawley to come back in after missing with a shoulder injury.

They will also weigh up whether to recall Ceglar, 27, who has not played at AFL level since tearing an anterior cruciate ligament in a loss to West Coast in round 22, 2016.

Naitanui went down with a knee injury in the same match, but has returned to his best this year.

Ceglar starred in the VFL last week to enter the selection frame for Sunday’s game at Etihad Stadium on Sunday.

“It is a bit of a daunting task, looking at their line-up, on your own, but I’ll leave that up to the match committee,” McEvoy said. “Ceglar certainly played really well last week and that’s awesome for him.

“It’s been a pretty tough 18 months, so it’s great to see him back up and about.

“Naitanui has got such an arsenal of weaponry as far as physical talents go ... speed and jump and strength.”

McEvoy has been almost exclusively the Hawks’ sole ruckman in Ceglar’s absence over the past two seasons and has arguably played his best football during that period.

The 200cm and 102kg big man has averaged nearly 32 hit-outs a game, up from 19.7 when splitting duties with Ceglar in most games in the three seasons prior.

“I suppose it makes my role a little clearer, switching between forward and ruck. But it’s certainly not easy by any stretch,” McEvoy said. “You’re coming up against a quality player each week and a lot of them are bigger than I am.”

McEvoy is one of several ruckmen in the spotlight this year, with Max Gawn (Melbourne), Brodie Grundy (Collingwood) and Aaron Sandilands (Fremantle) also winning plaudits for having huge influences on games as sole ruckmen supported by part-timers.

Sam Jacobs (Adelaide), Stefan Martin (Brisbane), Jarrod Witts (Gold Coast) and Todd Goldstein (North Melbourne) are also enjoying strong seasons, as are Naitanui and Lycett.