This year the Cats are determined to get back on top and their defence will lead the way.

Tom Hawkins told Fairfax that a tenacious Fremantle defence saw them out early in last year’s finals and the Cats are set to emulate this mind set in 2013.  

'It was a bit of a trend later in the year that good defences won games,'' he said.

''Fremantle played really well against us in the first final, their defence was rock-solid, and they ended up winning the game.

''And Sydney beating the Hawks in the grand final, that's one of the best games I've seen for a long time, and their defence was second to none. So in terms of trends, I think that will continue.’’

Hawkins is convinced that the leaders of the season will concentrate on strategies and tactics that thicken up their defence and this time the Cats will be ready.

''The good teams this year are going to have great defences.''

Hawkins realises that the game is changing and for the boys to keep up they must adapt to these changes and will fight hard to match up.

''Not that we didn't on the night, either, but you just can't lapse for a quarter in footy any more, it's just too hard to come back from being 30-40 points down, and we learnt the hard way that night, there are just no easy games in AFL any more,’’ Hawkins said.  

Despite the Cats end to the season last year, Hawkins is confident that the boys are ready for this years contest, after another intense and hard preseason positive results are sure to show.  

''We still believe we're good enough,'' he said.

''We're just trying to become as good as we can. You can't lapse for a week or two and we struggled a little bit with consistency last year in starting games, so we've got to become better and more consistent. But we think we can probably go well again.

''Pre-seasons are always hard and this one's been no different, but we've trained really well and I'm feeling good. I think this being my seventh one, your body adapts to the rigours of training and what it throws at you.'’