Luke Beveridge will come up against his old side on Friday night, but he says that he doesn’t expect that his time spent under Hawks coach Alastair Clarkson will give the Dogs any tangible advantage.

Beveridge was Hawthorn’s defensive coach from 2012 until the end of the 2014 season, but Clarkson has been a ‘master of adapting and evolving’ in the time since and he say the Hawks are a very different side today than they were two years ago.

“They have changed significantly… The way we see them set up, the way we see them play is very different to when I was there two years ago,” Beveridge said on Channel Seven's Talking Footy on Monday night.

“I know sometimes the way he thinks about the opposition – you think about your own team and the conversations that might be taking place in their match committee, and I know they’d be treating us with respect, and working out and trying to devise ways to get under our skin.

“But I don’t think it helps a great deal, because they have changed so much.”

The Bulldogs are aiming to win back to back finals for the first time since 1961 and Clay Smith told media he is ready to exhibit his combative nature.

"If I can put my body in there, crash around and knock a few blokes over, then that's what I want to do."

"I think both sides will go out pretty hard because finals are pretty much a contested game of footy and it will be one area of the game we hopefully come out on top," Smith said.

"They're a good side and I'm sure they'll bring the heat after the loss on the weekend.

'It will be a good battle."