HAWTHORN Coach Alastair Clarkson says his side will be prepared for a Geelong outfit that has found chemistry over the past month when they clash at the MCG on Saturday night.
The Cats have won their past four games to storm into finals contention, and need to keep winning to maintain their September aspirations.
Clarkson knows the Cats present a tough proposition this weekend.
“They’ve been in pretty good form the last four weeks, haven’t they?,” the Hawks’ coach told media at Waverley Park today.
“We’re obviously very mindful of that.
“They’ve been a great opponent for a long, long period of time and we’ve been on the backend of some not too good results against the Cats too in that period of time.”
The eighth-placed Cats have welcomed back a number of key players in recent weeks, which Clarkson says has helped them play their preferred game style.
“Their form over the last four weeks in particular has been really strong, on the back of (Andrew) Mackie, (Jimmy) Bartel and (Mitch) Duncan and these sort of guys coming back into their side,” he said.
“(Steven) Motlop’s been playing terrific football and (Harry) Taylor and (Tom) Lonergan in their back-end have just been real stalwarts for their side for a long period of time.
"They've been fabulous players and it's just the chemistry of the players that are in their side that allows them to play to the game style that they like.
“We’re starting to see that over the last four weeks, they’re starting to play the Geelong way… whereas for a period of time there where some of those guys were out, they were trying to play the Geelong way but they just weren’t capable because they didn’t have the quality or experience in their side.”
While Clarkson was full of praise for the opposition, he said the Hawks were confident if they played good football they would record a second consecutive win after last week’s thriller against West Coast Eagles.
“Our last 10 to 12 weeks have been pretty strong in terms of our approach to the game,” he said.
“We just go out there and try to play our best each particular week, knowing full well that if we do that it’ll give us a great chance to win.
“If we don’t, then any side in this competition is capable of beating you if you’re not quite on your game.”
