The dress rehearsal that the team was looking for. 

It was a pleasing outing in the eyes of assistant coach Jarryn Geary who saw many positive signs in the Dogs' 44-point win over the Hawks in the AAMI Community Series. 

With the pre-season now officially complete, all attention turns to next week's Opening Round game against the Lions. 

Here's what Geary had to say: 

Thoughts on the game:

“It was a good performance and we’re really excited for Round 0 next week.

“It was a full dress rehearsal for us. We only had the 75 interchange and tried to juggle the five on the bench. That was our first full dress rehearsal at it.

“There are some pleasing things to come out of the game and we know we have a big challenge next week, travelling up to Brisbane.

“Tonight was a good opportunity for us to put some things into place that we’ve tried to work on in the pre-season.”

On the backline and Buku Khamis: 

“It was good.

“It was a bit of a different look for us down there today.

“I think we had 30 spoils, which is something that those guys have been working on over the pre-season, so that was good to see that come to life tonight.

“Buku had some good moments amongst that back six, amongst some others.”

On finding the balance between attack and defence:

“I think last year, obviously, we attacked really well.

“We’ve been working on different parts of our game and tonight that was really positive.

“We were able to hold them up at times. They had a lot of inside-50s, particularly in that first half - they had 34 at half-time, which is a lot.

“But we were able to stay pretty strong down there.

“That’s a challenging part of the game, to stop opposition scoring - especially Hawthorn’s firepower that they have up there.

"It was a pleasing part of the game tonight and we know it’s going to be a challenge going forward again next week against Brisbane, but tonight we were able to do that quite well.”

On Jordan Croft’s game:

“He’s got some talent, Crofty.

“The pleasing thing about tonight is obviously the scoreboard, but also his pressure and presence.

“He went into the ruck and gave Tim a bit of a chop-out as well.

“He’s a young player still finding his way, but he’s showing some promising signs.

“To hit the scoreboard and impact at ground level is quite promising for a guy of that stature.”

On Ryley Sanders:

“He’s done quite well, Sando.

“He had a bit of an interrupted pre-season. He had a little bit of a niggle last week.

“But ever since he’s come back into the side over the last couple of weeks, he’s performed really strongly.

“Unfortunate to get a little knock at the end of the game there, which he’s obviously getting assessed for.

“But he’s shown some good signs.

“He’s a young, developing player who really wants to put his best foot forward. Tonight, he showed the quality he can be.

“We’re hopeful he’s got a positive future for us.”

On Sam Darcy and his potential return: 

“He trained earlier today. He had a little controlled session.

“He’ll be assessed on Wednesday. We’ll have our main session on Wednesday and he’s got to get through that.

“We’ll see how he goes next week.” 

On the potential forward-line mix:

“Those guys (Naughton, Croft and Darcy) played the back end of last year together.

“Crofty came in for three games towards the back end of last year and he showed some promise.

“We have seen it, so it would be nice to get them back out together at some point in time.

“One of them is probably going to have to give Tim a chop-out in the ruck as well.

“It would be good to have those three going together at some point.”

On Arty Jones' pre-season: 

“Over the last two weeks, he’s hit the scoreboard.

“He’s one of those small-forward players who needs to put pressure on for us, and he’s a lively type that builds energy for the team.

“I think he was one of many tonight who did that.

“He’s put a good few weeks forward and hopefully he’s built a strong case to play next week.”