The Hawks, with one loss this season, are fancied to push through the Kangaroos, who have dropped their last three matches.
However, North defender Daniel Pratt recognises an opportunity at the contests and has called on his teammates to take heed.
"Things start in the midfield this week," he said. "The last couple of weeks we've probably struggled in contested footy and it's been one of our strengths over probably the last 15 years.
"You've got to win the contested footy if you want to get a game at this club and we probably haven't done that.
"The stats show this year [that] the teams that win the most contested footy on the day usually win the game, or win the game 90 per cent of the time. We'll be focusing on that."
The Kangaroos will miss first-choice ruckman Hamish McIntosh, sidelined for at least eight weeks with a knee injury, while Hawthorn is poised to reunite twin towers Simon Taylor and Robert Campbell after the former sat out the win over Adelaide with a cut knee.
But expect most of the pre-match hype to be built around how the Kangaroos can counter the output of star forward Lance Franklin and midfielder Luke Hodge.
"The thing about footy these days is that you can't just focus on two players," Pratt said. "People come in to play their role. If you go Hodge ... (Sam) Mitchell always plays well or Michael Osborne will step up. There are blokes all around the ground – (Cyril) Rioli, Mark Williams.
"You can't just focus on two players and expect that's pretty much the difference on game day.
"We're coming up against a Coleman [Medal] leader ... and they've got a pretty potent forward line anyway," he added. "It's going to be difficult. They've got a pretty good midfield and have got a point to prove as well again.
"We beat them in the final last year ... they got revenge earlier in the year but they'll want to back it up again I think."
And the 25-year-old leapt to the defence of backmen Michael Firrito and Josh Gibson, who have worn brickbats in recent weeks for match-winning performances from opposition forwards.
"They need a lot of support at the minute, they're under the pump," he said. "They're probably two of our best competitors or one-one-one players at the club, and they're not really getting the chance to play that style of football.
"It makes it very difficult for them. They're two very good players and they're not being able to use their traits at the minute.
"Being a backman, you know what it can be like because you're standing next to them when the ball's coming in.
"I'll be helping out."
