Thompson: Our boys haven’t forgotten what Hawthorn did last time

North Melbourne defender Scott Thompson says his players have not forgotten the Hawks' rough tactics last time the two sides met.

Hawthorn captain Luke Hodge was suspended for three matches for striking Kanagaroos skipper Andrew Swallow, while Jordan Lewis was suspended for two matches for striking Todd Goldstein.

Thompson told SEN Radio on Wednesday that his teammates will be ready to return fire on Friday night.

“That was early last year and obviously I don’t think many of the boys would’ve forgotten that (the aggro), but obviously they’re a great team and been the best team for the last three or four years,” he said.

“We want to see where we’re at, we just played Geelong and we had a disappointing loss. We don’t want two losses in a row, so we’ll be ready to go.”

Thompson said that despite several players under injury clouds this week, the team is confident they have the depth to cover any potential losses.

“We back our depth in at the moment. We’ve got guys that we reckon are right to go if the other players aren’t fit enough and we do have a six-day break, playing Thursday night next week, but we’re just looking at the Hawthorn game and we want the win," he said.

The Hawks defeated the Kangaroos by 60 points when the two sides met in Round 5 last year.