NORTH Melbourne are preparing for an onslaught from Hawthorn this Saturday as the Hawks target a reversal of last year's finals result.

The Kangaroos knocked the Hawks out of the race with a 33-point semi-final win and Roos skipper Adam Simpson said his side faced a major test this weekend.

"They've got some pretty strong memories of that final, as we do, and from all reports they're pretty keen to come out and turn it around," Simpson said.

Hawthorn has started the season in a blaze while North rebounded from an opening round loss by defeating Richmond last Sunday.

Simpson said the key to winning the match would be to ensure they had first use of the ball.

"If you let them win the footy they're going to run all over you," he said.

"The first couple of weeks, maybe the teams they played gave them first use.

"Part of our strength is to win the contested footy and if we don't do that we'll be in a bit of strife this week."

He said the Kangaroos would be underdogs

"They're a little bit different although they have the same personnel pretty much.

"They've got a couple of quick small forwards now that have crept up.

"They're pretty damaging and across the line they haven't got too many weaknesses so I think we'll go in underdogs this week, that's for sure."

Star Kangaroo midfielder Shannon Grant said the club was confident after seeing the team's determination to turn around its first round defeat by Essendon.

"It was a collective effort," Grant said. "Early on in the week we touched on how disappointing our performance was the week before.

"It wasn't just coming from the coach, the players as a group stood up and realised that we had to perform a lot better than what we had."

Grant said Hawthorn and reigning premier Geelong were already the benchmark sides of the 2008 competition.