AFTER enjoying the weekend off, Hawthorn defender Josh Gibson says his teammates are ready to tackle the second half of the season.

The Hawks entered the bye weekend on a winning note, defeating Brisbane by 65 points on a wet MCG.

Gibson says the week off served as a way to freshen up both mentally and physically.

“We had four days off last week, so I got away to Sydney” Gibson said.

“There’s still AFL up in Sydney but it was nice to get out of the bubble and sit down and take some days to relax and get the mind off football.

“It’s a mental break and obviously lets the body recover.”

Players returned to the Ricoh Centre last Friday in order to prepare for Friday night’s match against Carlton.

The Hawks defender said that while all players enjoyed a rest, the group is focused on tackling the second half of the season.

“I think a lot of the boys did that (freshened up) because we came back and had a really good training session on the Friday,” he said.

“The four days was enjoyed last week, but it’s back to business now.

“Now that we’re back into the game, your focus is straight back onto your next game, and ours is against Carlton on Friday night.

“We have to focus on the job at hand, the days off are well and truly out of (our) head now.”

The 28-year-old said the Club aims to improve on its first half of the season, which netted the Hawks eight wins and four losses, sitting in sixth position on the AFL ladder.

Solid four-quarter efforts are on the agenda, with the defender emphasising the importance of running out matches.

“There’s not one particular area, if you can play four quarters of footy (it helps),” he said.

“Of late, we’ve played some really good quarters of footy, but earlier in the year we didn’t so it’s the ability to play out a whole game and not be patchy.

“If we can do that, then Hawthorn is normally a good side when we can be consistent over four quarters.”

The Club moved to extend the contracts of seven key players over the break, with Isaac Smith, Shane Savage, Luke Hodge, Ryan Schoenmakers, Sam Mitchell, Paul Puopolo and Grant Birchall and committing to the Hawks.

Gibson says the re-signing of such key players illustrates that the Club is heading in the right direction, and the players are looking forward to a bright future.

“It’s really good, we’ve got a really good group of guys here and everyone wants to buy in and be a part of something,” he said.

“Having those seven guys sign up, and getting it done and all finished it lets us be focused on football and not guys contracts.

“The players don’t really (focus on contracts), that’s behind the scenes, but it just shows fans that we’ve got some guys who are really committed to the club, which is great.”