ASSISTANT Coach Brett Ratten says Hawthorn’s NAB Challenge matches have prepared the side well for Monday’s season opener against the Cats.

The Hawks are facing a tough opening month to kick-off the 2015 season, facing three of last year’s top eight in the opening four rounds before taking on North Melbourne in Round 5 and Sydney in Round 8.

In total, of Hawthorn’s opening eight matches, five of those are against side’s who featured in last year’s finals series.

It means Hawthorn’s ability to prepare themselves for Round 1 in particular against a familiar foe in Geelong was critical.

Ratten, who coached the Hawks in the NAB Challenge opener against Collingwood, says the pre-season competition served well for the reigning premiers.

Despite winning just one of their three games – a 105-point win over St Kilda – the Hawks assistant says the hit-outs achieved what was required, confidence leading into the season opener.

“It went pretty well,” Ratten said about the NAB Challenge to hawthornfc.com.au ahead of the Easter Monday blockbuster.

“The pre-season is about the individual but also about the team synergy and confidence – that plays a part in your build-up for Round 1.

“We know some players can take a bit of extra time in their preparation to get good touch and be clean with the footy and some players can be gifted and just go bang and find touch straight away.

“As a group, you have to get that synergy back because it’s not just about the individuals and their preparation but also the dynamics.”

The victory over an under-strength St Kilda at Etihad Stadium in the final tune-up before Round 1 was critical given the Hawks fielded a nearly full strength team.

The Hawks were far too good for the Saints as Sam Mitchell and Jordan Lewis ran riot with 33 disposals each, Bradley Hill was exceptional with 27 and Jarryd Roughead, Luke Breust and Jack Gunston combined for nine of the 22 goals.

“We played pretty well against St Kilda – a lot of the things we were playing with or trialing during the pre-season we got to experiment with,” Ratten said.

“Some players really found form and good touch, which gives them a lot of confidence going into Round 1.

“Hill was in good form, Roughead played well, McEvoy, Ceglar, Mitchell, Lewis as well but across the board everyone played their part and played fairly well.”

That final hit-out, plus two more solid weeks of preparation on the training track now have the Hawks primed for the Cats.

“The confidence level is up and we’re ready to go for the 2015 season,” Ratten said.

“The players have been waiting for a while now but we’re ready to go and looking forward to it.

“We know it’s going to red hot and about 80,000 people there – it’ll be a great game and a great way for us to kick off the season.”