Hawthorn captain Luke Hodge has argued the Hawks have had ideal preparation for the finals with wins over North Melbourne and Sydney in the past fortnight.
The Hawks came from behind against the Kangaroos and the Swans to win both matches and claim the AFL's minor premiership and Hodge is convinced his team are 'building' into their best football at the right time of the season.
Hodge believes his side failed to overcome Sydney in last year's grand final because they peaked too soon and the versatile 29-year-old says that should not be a problem for Hawthorn in 2013.
Hawthorn will play the Swans at the MCG on Friday night for a spot in a preliminary final, just a week after knocking off the reigning premiers by 12 points at ANZ Stadium in Sydney.
"North Melbourne really pushed us (in Round 22), it was a tough game of football, and then, I don't think there's a better preparation going into finals football than playing Sydney, especially up there," Hodge said on Monday.
"The first three quarters, they were going flat out and we were able to stem the flow and settle down a little bit, and runaway with it in the last quarter."
Hodge is confident Hawthorn have momentum heading into this year's finals series.
"We found out last year that finishing first and the hype doesn't mean much unless you're playing the best football at the right time of year and we believe we're building into it," the Hawks skipper said.
Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson underlined the importance of the Hawks' younger players heading into their qualifying final against Sydney.
With injuries to key personnel in 2012 and earlier this year, including season-ending injuries to Ryan Schoenmakers and Matt Suckling, the Hawks have been forced to blood some of their younger players and Clarkson is convinced it has added some energy to Hawthorn throughout 2013.
"It's created opportunities on our list for some of those (younger) guys ... to emerge and that's been really important," Clarkson said.
"Not just to replace those guys but also to create some enormous energy for the group.
"As we saw with Jed Anderson in the first part of the last quarter on the weekend, everyone else in our side had been unable to tackle Joey Kennedy but he laid a great tackle and kicked a terrific, team-lifting goal.
"And the energy of those young fellows coming into the group is really important."
Clarkson also dismissed concerns about whether Hawthorn can win without star forward Lance Franklin, who is expected to be suspended for a bump on Sydney's Nick Malceski.
Hawthorn's coach argued his team have the depth to deal with Franklin's potential absence, while Clarkson added he would not worry about issues out of his control as the Hawks await the Match Review Panel's decision on the forward.