SUMMARY
One of football's greatest modern rivalries will be reignited when Geelong and Hawthorn meet for the first time since their season-opening clash on Easter Monday, a match that marked Patrick Dangerfield's impressive debut for the Cats. Fast-forward five months and Chris Scott's men made it seven successive wins and secured a top-two spot with an 111-point thumping of Melbourne, while Hawthorn's place in the coveted top four was in jeopardy until Demon-turned-Hawk Jack Fitzpatrick – in his first game for the club – unloaded a 60m running goal late in the thrilling one-point win over Collingwood. The triple reigning premiers are proven performers in high-pressure finishes, winning six games by under 10 points this year, and can't be underestimated despite losing two of their last four games of the home-and-away season.
WHERE AND WHEN: MCG, Friday, September 9, 7.50pm AEST
TV AND RADIO: Click here for broadcast guide
WHAT HAPPENED THIS YEAR?
Round one: Geelong 18.8 (116) d Hawthorn 12.14 (86) at the MCG
Geelong burst from the blocks with four goals to one in the first quarter and entered the main break with a 30-point advantage. Hawthorn mounted a third-quarter comeback, kicking five unanswered goals to lead by two points at three-quarter time, but the Cats responded in the final term with the last four goals of the match.
LAST FIVE TIMES
R1, 2016, Geelong 18.8 (116) d Hawthorn 12.14 (86) at the MCG
R20, 2015, Hawthorn 19.7 (121) d Geelong 12.13 (85) at the MCG
R1, 2015, Hawthorn 17.21 (123) d Geelong 8.13 (61) at the MCG
2QF, 2014, Hawthorn 15.14 (104) d Geelong 10.8 (68) at the MCG
R22, 2014, Hawthorn 14.10 (94) d Geelong 11.5 (71) at the MCG
WHAT TO WATCH FOR
Geelong
1. Scott Selwood has a proven ability to shut down opponents and is primed to tag Hawks playmaker Sam Mitchell on the back of his effective lock-down role on Essendon's David Zaharakis in round 20.
2. The Cats will tweak their forward set-up at various times to stretch the Hawks' backline. Zac Smith and Rhys Stanley will add extra height, while Dangerfield drifted forward against the Hawks in round one.
3. Hawthorn relies on its fleet-footed smalls to generate forward-half turnovers. The Cats will force the Hawks to kick the ball high and long to ease the pressure, allowing Harry Taylor and Tom Lonergan to showcase their aerial ability.
Hawthorn
1. How the Hawks deal with Dangerfield could be match-defining. Hard nut Liam Shiels seems the obvious choice to run with him, unless Will Langford is brought in specifically for that role.
2. Hawthorn's backline has looked vulnerable under aerial bombardment without Ben Stratton. The important defender will want to come across as 'third-man up' to support James Frawley on Tom Hawkins, but the Cats will try to drag him away.
3. To beat the Cats, the Hawks will want speedsters Isaac Smith, Bradley Hill and Billy Hartung to break the lines and isolate Geelong's backmen one-out. Look for the Hawks to switch play quickly to find that trio in space.
THE SIX POINTS
1. Dangerfield ran amok when the sides last met this season, starring with a game-high 43 disposals. Smith and Josh Caddy kicked three goals apiece.
2. Geelong's win in round one ended the Hawks' run of four consecutive wins and five from six. The Cats hold a big advantage over the Hawks since 2009, winning 13 games to five.
3. The Cats are ranked No.1 for marks inside 50 with an average of 15.2 per game, while Hawthorn is ranked 11th with 11.8 per match.
4. This will be the third time since 2013 the sides have met in finals, with one win each. They've played each other nine times in finals, with Hawthorn winning six.
5. The Cats have been impressive in the centre clearances, ranking No.2 with an average of 13.7 per game. The Hawks are ranked 11th in this area at 12.4 per match.
6. Six-time All Australian Corey Enright has climbed 44 places in the Schick AFL Player Ratings since round 16, from No.107 to No.63 overall. He's now the third-highest Cat.
WHAT THE COACHES SAY
Chris Scott: "I don't think that round one is going to be a huge pointer to what we are going to see on Friday night, but if you do look back, we played a pretty tall defensive group against their smalls. Their smalls did hurt us a little bit, particularly in that third quarter, but for the most part of the game our taller defenders looked mobile enough to handle the threat."
Alastair Clarkson: "We've won 17 games this year, which is one more than this time last year. So there's plenty of people lining up to write the Hawks off but we set ourselves a goal at the start of the year to win as many games as we could and get ourselves into the top four and we've been able to achieve that."
IT'S A BIG WEEK FOR
Tom Hawkins
The 28-year-old will lock horns with Frawley after their intriguing head-to-head battle in round one. The Hawks' defender restricted Hawkins to 10 disposals, two marks and two goals in their last encounter, while gathering 18 touches of his own. Hawkins, who is ranked No.3 in the league for both contested marks and marks inside 50, will want to have a bigger say on Friday night.
Jack Fitzpatrick
We could easily say Frawley or Shiels here given their likely shutdown jobs, but Fitzpatrick also has a huge task helping Ben McEvoy to stifle hard-running Cats ruck duo Smith and Stanley. Fitzpatrick's round 23 heroics are likely to give him the nod over Marc Pittonet and he'll be playing in his first final in front of an 85,000-plus crowd.
