THE CHEMISTRY building again between Geelong's veterans has helped the resurgent Cats become a dangerous side to face in the run home to finals, Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson says.
The Hawks and Cats will resume hostilities on Saturday night at the MCG with top-eight spots up for grabs – as has so often been the case in their storied rivalry.
Hawthorn has held the whip hand and won four of the past five contests since famously ending an 11-game losing streak against the Cats in the 2013 preliminary final.
But the Cats' confidence is sky-high after an impressive past month and the return of stars such as Jimmy Bartel, Andrew Mackie and Mitch Duncan has helped Chris Scott's men claw their way into the top eight.
"Most of it's (Geelong's form) got to do with personnel to be honest," Clarkson said.
"It's got to do with confidence levels and knowing the way that they want to play and some of those guys that have come back into that side have played with their teammates a hell of a lot over the last four, five, six, seven and – in some cases like Bartel – the 12 years.
"They've been fabulous players and it's just the chemistry of the players that are in their side that allows them to play to the game style that they like.
"We're starting to see that over the last four weeks, that they're starting to play the Geelong way.
"Whereas for a period of time there when some of those guys were out they were trying to play the Geelong way but they just weren't capable because they just didn't have either the quality or the experience in their side."
Both sides have plenty to play for in round 20, with Hawks a chance to climb into second spot on the ladder if they beat Geelong and West Coast loses the Western Derby against Fremantle on Sunday.
The Hawks have won nine of their past 10 matches and Clarkson said he's more concerned about stacking up victories than his side's brand of football at this stage of the year.
"Our goal all along has been to finish top-four and that's not secure at this point in time yet, so we need to continue to win," he said.
"In terms of standards, hopefully the only time our standards are at a really, really high level is the latter stage of September, or in this (year's) particular case, October."
The Hawks have made three changes for Saturday night's clash, bringing back ruckman David Hale to replace Jon Ceglar (back) and full-back Brian Lake for the crucial match-up with Tom Hawkins.
Ryan Schoenmakers and Taylor Duryea have been omitted, while first-year utility Daniel Howe will play his second game for the year after a string of top VFL performances.
"It's just sheer good performance over a long, long period of time gives him his opportunity this week," Clarkson said.
"Taylor Duryea's been a little bit handicapped over the last couple of weeks with a couple of injuries and not having enough game time. We really just need to get him some game time in the Box Hill side."
While the Hawks are building towards a potential premiership three-peat, assistant coach Brendon Bolton is also juggling the interview process for Carlton's coaching job.
The Hawks' forwards coach was interviewed by the Blues' sub-committee this week and Clarkson said Hawthorn would deal with potentially losing Bolton for its finals campaign if the situation arises.
"He's been an outstanding coach who has contributed enormously to our footy club and he'll continue to do so until such time as he gets the job," Clarkson said.
"Then he'll sit down with myself, Chris Fagan (football boss) and Stuart Fox (CEO) and we'll decide as a club what's best at that point in time.
"We can't, at this point in time, state what that's going to be. We'd like him to stay on, but who knows."
