All eyes will be fixated on the midfield battle when Hawthorn meets Geelong in a blockbuster Easter Monday clash.

The Hawks powerhouse pair of Tom Mitchell and Jaeger O’Meara announced themselves to the competition in Round 1, as an outstanding game from O’Meara complemented Mitchell’s record-breaking 54 touches. 

While the Cats’ on-ball brigade of Patrick Dangerfield, Joel Selwood and Gary Ablett Jnr needs little introduction, with three Brownlow Medals, five premiership medallions, 19 All Australian honours and 12 club best and fairest awards between them.

Although, despite their much-hyped midfield line-up in 2018, the Geelong engine room was somewhat of a letdown in their season opener against Melbourne.

Despite the superstar pair of Gary Ablett and Joel Selwood combining for 78 possessions, there were certainly some flaws in the Cats’ midfield dynamic.

Noted that it was without Dangerfield, but the Cats were beaten by the Demons in many statistical areas, including clearances (lost by eight), inside 50s (-23), contested possession  (-6) and tackles (-27), having laid an alarmingly-low 45 tackles.

For the Hawks, they were able to gain slight ascendancies in the contested possession and inside 50 count in their season-opening win over Collingwood.

Led by Mitchell’s 27 contested touches, the Hawks ranked third in the competition for contested possessions behind only North Melbourne and Gold Coast who met in torrential conditions in Cairns.

Although it was not completely negative for the Geelong midfield, where the boys from down the highway excelled was in their scoring efficiency once going inside 50. 

Their 41 inside 50s was the lowest tally of any side in Round 1, but their 27 scoring shots was bettered by only four sides.

With a 65.8% rate of entry to score, it annihilated the competition average that has hovered at around 40% in recent years. 

You could analyse this midfield match-up forever, given the quality of cattle amongst both on-ball units.

In the end, whichever side it is that is able to gain midfield dominance, will go a long way towards taking home the chocolates on Easter Monday.