HAWTHORN assistant coach Adam Simpson says the Club is ready to head into the Patersons Stadium fortress against the Eagles on Saturday night.

Facing ruck duo Dean Cox and Nic Naitanui will be a tough assignment, but Simpson believes the Hawks’ midifelders and ruck combination has what it takes to nullify their influence.

“We’re aware of how potentially dangerous they can be in the ruck, but we’re not frightened by it,” Simpson said.

“You can’t just look at the hit outs, it does start the chain a lot of the time but if we can work off that and make sure when the ball hits the deck we compete, hunt the footy and do all the things that flow on from that, then that'll be important for us.”

Sharking the Eagles’ hit outs will be important for the Hawks ability to get the ball going forward, placing a higher price on winning the stoppages.

“We can’t rely on losing the clearances and our backs to win it back, that’s one thing you can’t do over there,” Simpson said.

“We need to win our fair share of ball around the stoppages, defend well when we lose them and convert when we get them.”

West Coast forward Josh Kennedy poses another big challenge for the Hawks’ defence, with the star forward already booting 10 goals in season 2012.

It is Kennedy’s ability, combined with the depth of talent in the Eagles’ forward half - with Jack Darling, Quinten Lynch and the resting Dean Cox and Nic Naitunui all spending time up forward that will challenge the Hawks' back six.

Simpson says though, that the Hawks are prepared for the Eagles’ tall timber.

“We’re wary of their tall forwards, they’ve got some good combinations down there,” he said.

“It’s something we’re aware of, and our backs have had a bit of a battle the last three weeks with some really good combinations against them - it’ll be the same thing again this week.

“We thought on the weekend (against Adelaide) that our backs took a step up with their footy and they rebounded really well - Subiaco is a ground that you’ve really go to rebound well off.”

That rebounding ability will be particularly important when facing the Eagles’ press and tackling pressure around the ball on Saturday night.

“They’re very good at keeping the ball inside their forward line, and it’s not just the fact that they’re so tall and can take a mark,” Simpson said.

“They’re the number one in the competition in terms of taking the press to another level, so we’ve got some things we need to do to try and break that for sure.

“They’re confident, but we’re confident too so it’s going to be a good battle.”

Kate Salemme is a member of Hawthorn Football Club’s Digital media team reporting exclusively for hawthornfc.com.au from the Ricoh Centre