HAWTHORN coach Alastair Clarkson says his side will have to play much better than it did against Fremantle on Sunday if it is to beat Geelong for the first time since the 2008 Grand Final next Saturday night.

The Hawks have lost their past five clashes with the Cats - including one in round five this year - but will enter the round 12 match with momentum having won their fifth straight game on Sunday with a 22-point come-from-behind victory against Fremantle at the MCG.

Clarkson said his side's periodic performance against Freo that saw it forced to reel in a 28-point margin in the third term with one-and-a-half quarters of positive football would not stand up to the Cats.

"They're 10-zip and playing great footy. Scotty's [Chris Scott] has just made some slight tweaks of the way they go about it and they've injected some young kids into their group too, which has been really good for their spirit around the club," he said on Sunday evening.

"We lowered our colours to them about six weeks ago. We started the game really well and got ourselves back into the contest and then just couldn't go on with the game.

"We need to play a lot better than the last time we played against them, and we need toplay a lot better than we did today to defeat them too.

"We acknowledge they're still a tremendous side and we need to do some work a bit better than we did today."

Clarkson labelled the Cats as the best side of the past five years, despite Collingwood's recent dominance.

He also said while he was disappointed his side had to fight so hard to get back in the contest against Fremantle after a bad first half, he had noticed every side in the competition was struggling to put together complete games.

"I'm just trying to think of a team in the competition that has dominated for four quarters," he said.

"It's a tough game. Even the Pies, who have been the most dominant side for the past 18 months, they can't put together four quarter of footy because it's really tough to do.

"St Kilda last night was terrific for a half. That's the game at the current time. With ebbs and flows within a game, it's very, very difficult.

"It's to the credit of all sides in the competition, in a sense, that you can find yourself in games for periods and the really good sides are ones that can have control of the game for longer."

Clarkson praised the performances of Luke Breust, who was the substitute player for the fourth time, and Max Bailey, who played his third game since his return from three knee reconstructions in four years, for the way they both influenced the game.

"[Bailey] showed us he can ruck. We were really pleased with his whole game really, but particularly his last quarter," he said.

"We're just stoked for him. It was a pivotal game for some of these lads, same with Breust.

"To not just be playing and be part of a 22 but actually really play a role and assist the side to win, the 20 other blokes they play with sit and say, 'Gee, Breust can do some things and wasn't Bailey great in the last quarter?'

"Also for the lads themselves, it makes their benchmark a little bit higher than what it has been previous."

Bailey sent a brief scare through the Hawks camp when he went straight into the rooms after coming off in the opening minutes of the game but Clarkson said it had been because he "copped one in the 'aggots'" and was not knee-related.

"Any injury apart from his knees we don't mind with big Maxy," he said.