Even before the season could start many pundits were tipping Hawthorn to struggle and their 59-point opening-round thrashing by Essendon didn't alter that narrative.

For their part, Sydney answered doubts about their ability to rebound from last year's grand-final mauling by Geelong with a 49-point first-round away win over Gold Coast.

Hawthorn are rated rank outsiders on Sunday, but Sydney co-captain and 2022 All-Australian midfielder Callum Mills stressed Sydney wouldn't take them lightly.

''They can be really dangerous especially the way they move the footy," Mills said. "A lot of the young guys can be really damaging players if you let them play the way that they want to.

"So we're going to have to be really sharp this week and expect a fierce contest."

Hawks midfielder James Worpel was adamant last week's loss was more of an aberration than a sign of things to come.

"We're not expecting to play like that every week," Worpel said.

"We are a young team and we're still learning, but hopefully it's an outlier and I think it is, so we'll definitely be looking to bounce back against Sydney."

Hawthorn beat Sydney by 38 points the last time the teams met at the SCG back in 2021.

In their most recent encounter last season in Launceston, Sydney trailed at all three breaks but kicked nine goals to one in the final quarter to win by 41.

"It's a completely different Hawthorn side now and they've got a lot of young guys that bring a lot of energy so we've got to be wary of that and be on our A game," Mills said.

Mills had one of the best games of his career in Launceston that day, racking up a personal best 37 touches while also tallying 11 marks.

Both clubs have made one enforced change to their team.

Young forward Joel Amartey has been promoted to the Swans side for the suspended Lance Franklin and midfielder Conor Nash replaces injured forward Chad Wingard in the Hawks line-up.

Australian Associated Press