HAWTHORN Assistant Coach Brett Ratten believes the team whose midfield dominates tonight’s match will win the game.

Geelong and Hawthorn have two of the best midfields in the game - with a good mix of experience, youth, hardness and pace a feature of both.

For Hawthorn, there’s Brad Sewell, Sam Mitchell, Luke Hodge, Isaac Smith and Bradley Hill.

For Geelong, it’s Joel Selwood, Joel Corey, Jimmy Bartel, Matthew Stokes, Allen Christensen and Steven Motlop.

Cats Captain Selwood was integral to his team’s ability to ultimately overrun Hawthorn in Round 1, with his second half leading the way to a 7-point victory for his side. He gathered 35 possessions in that game and was widely regarded as the best player on the ground.

But Hawthorn won’t be putting in any more time into Selwood that it has any other Geelong players, with Ratten declaring the Cats have a number of weapons of which the Hawks need to be wary.

“It’s more about our midfield versus their midfield; it’s not just about individuals,” he told hawthornfc.com.au

“Selwood is a great player, he demands a lot of respect when you play him and you need to watch out for what he can do when you play him but it’s going to be our midfield versus their midfield, it won’t just be individual.

“I think collectively, whoever can get that advantage will be really important. Knowing you can get that ascendency in the midfield, then you can get the ball inside 50 and your ability to lock it in there and keep it in there might be where the game is won or lost.”

Hawthorn’s ability thus, to keep the ball in its forward half through the pressure of Luke Breust, Paul Puopolo, Cyril Rioli and even the talls – Lance Franklin, Jarryd Roughead and Jack Gunston will be critical.

The Cats are the number one handballing side in the competition, so if the Hawks can apply manic forward pressure, it could cause a number of skill errors by hand from the Cats.

That’s what the Magpies did to Geelong in Round 8 this season to win a thriller.

Ratten says last week’s tackling performance against Brisbane has given the side confidence that it can out-pressure the Cats.

“I thought our tackling last week against Brisbane was really good, I thought our ability to chase from behind or from the front position to reduce Brisbane’s attacks was great,” he said.

“Like in most games, if you can deny the opposition time and space, it’s always critical in the result but it’s also about your ability to tackle the opposition and get the ball back.”

While Ratten knows forward pressure is the key to any team’s success, against Geelong too, it’s the ability to mix up the way you enter your forward 50.

Geelong have made a name for themselves in recent years as having one of the best defences in the competition, because of their ability to back their judgment and mark from opposition kicks.

Harry Taylor is one of the best at it, and it’s little wonder why he’s ranked number one at his club for marks.

The top three spots on that leader board are occupied by defender – Taylor, Corey Enright and Andrew Mackie.

Ratten says the Hawks will be looking to “mix up” the way they enter the forward 50 tonight.

“If you try and play one way against Geelong they’re very good at adapting and playing the game,” he said.

“For us, it’s to make sure we don’t just play one way, we need to mix it up a bit.

“When you’ve got Harry Taylor – he’s been in fantastic form. His influence on the game can be something that we can hopefully take away by his opponent marking the ball or getting involved in the game.

“That will be really important for us, to give our forwards a chance to do that.

“Geelong thrive on when the ball is kicked to their advantage and their ability to just make half opportunities their way, they’re very good at it.

“They’re one of the best team if not the best team at marking the ball from opposition boot, so we need to reduce their marks there’s no doubt about it.”