The Cats' upset loss to Fremantle on Saturday sent them into a semi-final with Port Adelaide this week, with the winner to face Hawthorn for a spot in the Grand Final.
Well aware of the Power's impressive season and its surprise defeat of Collingwood on the weekend, Hawks defender Josh Gibson said it was far too early to start thinking about ending the 11-game losing streak to Geelong.
"It would be disrespectful to Port Adelaide if we were sitting here starting to prepare for Geelong now," Gibson said at Waverley on Monday.
"Both of those sides have had fantastic years, and on the weekend Port Adelaide played some really good football, and away from home."
Geelong will start as heavy favourites against Ken Hinkley's young team, but Gibson said the week one finals results – in which the Hawks were the only higher-ranked team to win – showed that no game was a given.
Port Adelaide players have admitted that they used their underdog status against the Magpies as motivation on Saturday night.
"If you look at the competition this year, there are a lot of good sides," the All Australian-nominated backman said.
"Carlton only just got into the top eight, and they beat the fifth-placed side on the weekend.
"So I think the top half of the competition is really even this year, and if you don't respect sides and you don't come to play, you can get beaten by anyone.
"We saw some of that on the weekend.
"So that's why I won't be making a call yet on who I'm preparing to play on, because there's plenty of football that has to be played yet before our preliminary final."
Hawthorn will approach this week as if preparing for a match, maintaining normal training loads and routines.
Although mindful of the risk of coming out flat in a fortnight's time – as they did against Adelaide in the same game last season – the club is confident of avoiding a repeat.
"I think this year is different to last year," Gibson said.
"A big thing for us this year was getting more wins on the board earlier in the season, which allowed us just to manage our loads a little bit better, and we've probably been able to go into our finals campaign this year not as worn out.
"But I think it's important to just keep training during the week, not take it as a week off – stay on the job and work hard."
Twitter: @AFL_MarkM
