HAWTHORN assistant coach Todd Viney jokes that during his AFL playing career he definitely would have beaten Brad Sewell in a one-on-one duel.

But the former Melbourne captain admits Sewell's tag would have been a tough one to shake.

Gary Ablett, Paul Chapman or Jimmy Bartel will have the dubious pleasure of Sewell's undivided attention on Sunday afternoon when the Hawks play Geelong at Aurora Stadium in Launceston.

Sewell slaughtered Kangaroos onballer Shannon Grant last week, restricting him to just five possessions.

The week before, the Hawks' run-with midfielder did a similar job on star Melbourne midfielder Travis Johnstone.

"I still probably would have gotten the points, that's right," Viney said with a laugh.

"You'd be thinking that you've got the task in front of you - he's strong, so you couldn't push him off the ball in a contested situation.

"He's really fit, so you'd have to be running really hard to get an advantage there.

"He's really quick ... when we played Melbourne, Travis Johnstone had the footy and took off, Sewelly was probably 10m behind and managed to drag him down before he got his kick away."

Amid all the controversy this week about on-field sledging, Viney also said that would never be a factor with Sewell - he would be concentrating too hard to bother with any "chat".

"There's no fuss about him - there's been a lot said about sledging and that sort of stuff, he's just one of those players who wouldn't worry about any of that," Viney said.

Sewell finished third in the Hawks' best-and-fairest voting last season, mainly as a small defender.

But this year he is spending more time in the midfield.

Viney thinks he can remember only one player having the better of Sewell in the last two seasons - and that was All-Australian captain Brad Johnson.

"It hasn't come particularly easy to him, he's probably not the most natural or gifted player, but he's certainly very competitive and hard to beat," Viney said.

"What makes him so good from a coaching perspective is you always know what you're going to get out of him.

"Sometimes, with some players, you get a lot of fluctuations between their best and worst, but with Brad he's always really consistent."