JOSH Gibson expects another tough contest against Geelong on Easter Monday as the Hawks prepare for the blockbuster Round 1 clash.

Hawthorn has won three of its last five encounters against the Cats by an average of 21 points, but none of those victories have come easy.

In each, the Hawks have had to come from behind and outlast a tenacious Geelong outfit led by skipper, Joel Selwood.

Gibson expects the same on Monday and says the Hawks will need to be at their best.

“Geelong are still a very experienced side and they have a lot of good players across all lines – forwards, mids and backs so we’ll have to be on our game this week,” he told media on Tuesday.

“We want to get out season off to a good start with a win, that’s the focus.

“They’ll be a tough opposition so we’ll need to bring our A-game to make sure we get a win at the end of the day.”

Monday’s season opener will more-than-likely be the third time Gibson will play alongside recruit James Frawley, whom he says has slotted in nicely in defence.

The duo, together with Brian Lake, Ben Stratton, Grant Birchall and Luke Hodge form a formidable defensive group but an equally strong Geelong forward line up will test them on Monday.

Tom Hawkins and recruit Mitch Clark have impressed so far this pre-season -  booting 19 goals between then in the NAB Challenge - and will form a dynamic partnership up forward.

“They’ve got a very dangerous forward line,” Gibson said.

“They haven’t had those big two talls set up since Podsiadly was there so it’s definitely a different dynamic coming up against them in the forward line compared to last year.

“We’ve got a good mix though and we should be able to cater for them.

“We’ve got a lot of experience down there and we can mix it with talls and smalls.

“‘Lakey’ and ‘Chip’ (Frawley) can play on the big guys, then we’ve got ‘Hodgey’ and ‘Shauny’ (Shaun Burgoyne) who are so dangerous by foot and ‘Birch’ as well.

“We feel it’s a nice mix and hopefully we can stay injury-free and play a lot of football together this year.”

Despite winning just one of its three pre-season games, Gibson says it was the final hit-out against St Kilda that has given the side confidence heading into Round 1.

“It’s not always about getting wins in the NAB [Challenge], it’s more about going out and playing the way that we want to,” he said.

“It was pleasing that week that the things we put in place during the week we went out on the weekend and executed them.

“When that happens, the scoreboard usually looks after itself and we saw that in the St Kilda game.”

The dual premiership Hawk recently signed a one-year contract extension to remain at the Hawks until at least the end of 2016 and says he’s feeling as good as ever.

“It’s good to get another deal and get that out of the way to focus on footy,” he said.

“The body is feeling good – I’ve been able to complete about 95 per cent of pre-season so it’s been a good build-up and I’m just excited for the real stuff to start now.”