Hawthorn midfielder Shaun Burgoyne says the table-topping flag favourites are just starting to hit their straps.

And with the AFL finals just around the corner, they expect to get even better, and quickly.

Burgoyne and the retuning Lance Franklin drove the Hawks past Sydney by seven points at the SCG on Saturday and into top spot.

“We’ve changed a few things along the way as well and we’re probably just starting to play the footy we want to play now,” Burgoyne said on Monday, while acknowledging the Hawks needed to end a recent history of slow starts, including against the Swans.

“Obviously there’s some things we need to address.

“We started slowly again on the weekend against a quality team and we’ve done that the last couple of weeks.

“We need to address that and come out and really make an impact from the first bounce.

“… we gave Geelong a fairly big head start (in round 19 when they lost by two points) and on the weekend we gave Sydney a fairly big head start as well.

“Against those quality teams you’re going to lose more matches than you win if you give those teams that start.”

The last time the Hawks won the premiership, back in 2008, they prided themselves on their unsociable brand of football.

And Burgoyne expected them to push the rules as hard as possible again.

“We’re a team that needs to play on the edge,” he said.

“We want to play tough, hard footy. We also want to run hard and use the ball the way we want to use it.

“As long as we’re not breaking the rules we’ll probably push it as far as we can.’