Hawthorn captain Luke Hodge believes there is a great, mutual respect between his side and the Cats and says both sides can’t wait to face off against each other in another Easter Monday showdown.

Geelong will take on Hodge and the Hawks at the MCG on Easter Monday afternoon to close out the opening round of the 2016 Toyota AFL Premiership season and the three-time premiership captain says it’s shaping up as a blockbuster.

“We’re just building for a big Easter Monday,” Hodge said at Thursday’s AFL Season Launch.

“We know whenever we play Geelong, we’ve got a huge amount of respect for the Cats.”

“To finish the round with a big blockbuster with two teams who respect each other but have a huge rivalry – especially the supporters – we can’t wait.”

The two clubs have shared one of football’s greatest rivalries for nearly a decade, but the Hawks have had the Cats measure in recent outings.

And whilst Hawthorn have just enjoyed their third consecutive premiership, Hodge says Geelong have danger written all over them.

“You look through what they [Geelong] did in ’07, ’09, ’11 and a lot of those blokes are still there,” Hodge said.

“And then you bring in blokes like Danger [Patrick Dangerfield], Sel [Scott Selwood] and Lachie [Lachie Henderson] … you’ve gotta be cautious.”

“The Cats are always a dangerous team and especially when you bring those inclusions in. It’s going to be a good game.”