Geelong’s renowned toughness means North Melbourne coach Brad Scott expects no drop off from the Cats in their AFL match this Sunday at Etihad Stadium.

Scott said that even if the Cats struggle with the effects of last Monday’s titanic battle with Hawthorn and the six-day break, they will not relent.

Geelong and Hawthorn had a brutal physical battle before the Cats won the epic clash by two points.

“The problem with that is when they belt the crap out of each other and Joel Selwood just keeps getting back up, it’s a testament to how hard he is and how good a side they are,” Scott said.

“In a situation when they’re down, their senior players just get them up.

“It has to be a factor physically, but I don’t expect it will affect them.

“Even if they’re feeling physically a little bit down, they just get up.”

More than 40 North Melbourne players went to the MCG to watch the Easter Monday clash.

“They’ll be under no illusions as to what they’re going to come up against,” Scott said of his team.

“The players, if anything, probably got a little bit of a shock as to just what an intense game it was.”

By contrast, North belted Greater Western Sydney by 129 points last weekend.

Despite the ease of the win, Scott said his players had worked hard and gained plenty from the match.

The challenge will be whether they can replicate that good work against the Cats.

“Too much has been made of the big win … our GPS numbers were better than they’ve been in my time here,” Scott said.

“So just because the opposition aren’t up to the standard of the premiership team, we still had to run hard, we still had to work hard, we still had to compete hard.

“What will be the test is how well we can try and play our way against the best team in the comp.”

While North are determined to be more competitive against top-four sides such as Geelong, Scott said Sunday was also a great change for individual players to test themselves against top-class opponents.

He noted that new captain Andrew Swallow will probably go head-to head in the midfield with new Geelong skipper Joel Selwood.

“Wherever you look on the ground, I think similarities are there,” Scott said.

“Joel Selwood is a very young captain, a fantastic player – we have a young captain who’s a similar type of inside midfielder.

“It’s going to be a really good test for where we’re at, not only as a collective, but probably more importantly where our individuals are at.”

One Geelong player that North might struggle to cover is in-form key forward Tom Hawkins.

North brought key defender Luke Delaney into their extended squad as a potential boost for their defence.

“Hawkins poses a unique problem – at 197cm and 105kg and a terrific athlete, we’re going to have to look at that option of bringing someone else in,” Scott said.