The form

Hawthorn
The Hawks have already said you can’t read too much into pre-season form, with GM – Footy Chris Fagan declaring the NAB Challenge was never about winning.

What we can take away from Hawthorn’s pre-season campaign though, is there are some handy additions – James Frawley, Jonathan O’Rourke, Jed Anderson - who will only make the premiers even stronger.

The final hit-out against St Kilda showed though that it might be another year but it’ll be the same polished and ruthless Hawthorn taking to the field.

Geelong
No doubt Geelong’s straight-sets exit from last year’s finals would have been burning all summer so they’ll be keen to start the season off on a positive note.

They’ve injected some youth – Nakia Cockatoo was so impressive in the NAB Challenge – but it’ll again be the leaders, like Joel Selwood, who’ll inflict the most damage for the Cats.

Mitch Clark will make his debut for the club, with the boom off-season recruit already impressing in his new colours.

Recent history

After those 12-straight losses the Hawks have actually turned the tables on the Cats and enjoyed great success against them in recent times.

Since the streak-breaking win in the 2013 Preliminary Final, the Hawks have beaten the Cats in three of the last five encounters.

While the average winning margin for the Hawks in those three wins has been 21 points, the victories have been anything but easy. The Hawks have been pushed by the Cats and asked to produce some of their best footy.

Fit Hawks

Thankfully the pre-season has been relatively quiet on the injury front for Hawthorn who are fit and firing ahead of another year.

Match conditioning is crucial leading in the opening rounds of the season given the jump in intensity from pre-season to in-season and valuable minutes have been given to stars like Sam Mitchell, Jordan Lewis, Luke Hodge, Jarryd Roughead and Cyril Rioli to name a few.

It means Coach Alastair Clarkson will have almost a full complement to choose from and those who run out in brown and gold on Easter Monday will be ready for the battle to come.  

Geelong’s new threat

The biggest criticism of Geelong last year was their reliance on Tom Hawkins to kick bags of goals and because of that, their predictability going forward.

With the addition of former Demon and Lion Mitch Clark though, the Cats now gave a genuine second tall marking and leading option to mix up their forward set up.

While the expectations on Clark are probably low given he’s spent a long time out of the game, his performances in the NAB Challenge have the Cats excited about his prospects.

But because of that, Clark has also placed himself fairly and squarely on the radar of opposition clubs and no doubt the Hawks will be preparing to defend against his best on Easter Monday.

Clark kicked 11 goals in the NAB Challenge, including six against the Crows in game two.

He and Tom Hawkins also led the Cats to victory in their final hit-out before the clash against the Hawks with eight goals between them in the 19-point win over Carlton.

Clark’s athleticism for his size (200cm) makes him a difficult match-up for defenders and the Hawks struggled against him the last time they faced him, when he was a Demon.

He booted three goals from five scoring shots against the Hawks in Round 7, 2012 and was dangerous every time the Demons went forward.

The Cat might find himself in the company of a familiar face on Monday given his strengths on the lead and at ground level. Clarkson might send new Hawk James Frawley to him but the good news for Hawthorn is, there are plenty of options.

What does that mean for Hawkins?

Tom Hawkins has always enjoyed playing Hawthorn – he actually seems to produce some of his best footy against last year’s premiers.

In 13 games against the brown and gold, Hawkins has booted 26 goals from 43 scoring shots.

He’s been a towering force.

With the addition of Clark, the focus won’t all be on the big Cat, which will add to his match-winning capabilities.

Since the addition of Brian Lake at Hawthorn though, Hawkins hasn’t had as much of an impact and Clarkson will be hoping the dual premiership full back and contain him again on Monday.

Where do the Hawks improve?

Clarkson always says if you’re not improving year on year them teams will go past you so expect to see a jump from the Hawks in various areas this year.

Geelong’s improvement will come from their new-look forward line as we’ve already spoken about but for Hawthorn it might come down to a few small areas like tackling and contested possessions.

The Hawks, remarkably, were ranked 16th in the league last season for average tackles per game, (62.3) above only Adelaide and Carlton.

In the grand final though, Hawthorn clearly had a focus on hitting in hard when the opposition had the ball and did it to devastating affect.

Although the Hawks laid just 63 tackles, it was the hardness and where they laid their tackles that was critical in setting up the victory.

Another area is contested ball, although we’re being a little harsh here.

The Hawks were ranked fifth for average contested possession per game in 2014 (142.8 average) up on their 2013 ranking of eighth. It seems that’s an area the Hawks have honed in on in the last few years.

Another area is defence in terms of scores conceded to the opposition.

Games are won based on how good your defence is and although the Hawks can cover that with their devastating weapons up forward, it’s still an area they can improve on to be even better in 2015.

Last year, Hawthorn was ranked sixth for scores conceded to their opponents (79.3 average per game) – behind Sydney, Fremantle, Port Adelaide, Essendon and North Melbourne.

With the addition of Frawley alongside the likes of Josh Gibson, Brian Lake and Ben Stratton, the Hawks will be hoping to concede less points this season.