Geelong senior coach Chris Scott is wary of reigning premier Hawthorn ahead of his side’s Easter Monday blockbuster.

The Cats will meet the Hawks for the first and only time this season next Monday afternoon at the MCG with a crowd pushing 80,000 expected for the marquee match.

It will be Geelong’s first true test following an off-season of hype around the football world and Scott knows there is no tougher task than facing the Hawthorn juggernaut on the big stage.

“I think they’ll be hard to beat. You need everything going for you to beat the Hawks at the moment,” Scott told Triple M’s Hot Breakfast on Monday morning.

“We’re pretty hopeful that we can put in a good performance on Easter Monday … right at the moment it’s clear they’re the team to beat.”

Much has been made of the names who now call Simonds Stadium home – though Dangerfield, Henderson, Smith and Selwood are all admittedly causes for excitement.

However it remains that football is indeed a results-driven industry, leading the man at the helm to believe any hysteria surrounding the Cats should be offset by the fact they have proven nothing.

“We’re really clear that we’re an average team. Our ladder position reflected that last year,” Scott said.

“We think we’ve had a good preparation but the reality is we lost two of our three NAB Cup games so we’re got a lot of work to do to get to where people think we could over the next few years.”