JORDAN Lewis says it will be strange coming up against Luke Hodge in new colours this weekend. 

Lewis, who played in four premierships with Hodge at the Hawks, before crossing to Melbourne at the end of the 2016 season, will now take on his former teammate, who switched to the Brisbane Lions at the end of the 2017 season, at the Gabba on Saturday night.

Lewis said it would be akin to when he played against another four-time Hawthorn premiership teammate, Sam Mitchell, who played one season with West Coast Eagles last year. 

“It was a bit weird last year, playing against ‘Mitch’ in West Coast colours, so going up to the Gabba and playing Hodgey, up there in different colours, it would feel a little bit weird,” he told Melbourne Media.

“But he’s a great mate of mine and we’re two really competitive people, so no doubt, when the game is on, we’re competitive and enemies, and when the game finishes, we’ll shake hands and potentially have a beer.”

Lewis said he was in regular contact with Hodge, but winding each other up was not part of their pre-match plans.

“We’re pretty much in contact weekly, so we’re not really personalities that push buttons,” he said.

“It’s about rocking up and playing, and then moving on and playing the next game. It’s just business as usual.”

Lewis said he watched, on television, Hodge play against the Saints at Etihad Stadium last Saturday.  

“I watched it on TV. I didn’t go to the game, but I certainly watched their game, knowing that we would be coming up against them the following week,” he said.

“They’ll be really happy with the way they played for probably the first three quarters, and then St Kilda just ran over the top of them in the last quarter.

“Certainly, there are some really good signs, with some young kids coming through and having Hodgey there to be that stability, and play that leadership role, is certainly going to help these young kids.”

And Lewis was expecting “a really big game” against the Lions this weekend.

“You’ve got to take every game, as if it’s even at the start. Although you can do a lot of planning, you can never predict how the game will unfold,” he said.

“As a player and as an athlete, you’ve got to prepare in that manner – it’s going to be a tough match. I’ve played up there once in the last 10 years and we had a really good win, but that’s irrelevant.

“They’re coming off a loss and we’re coming off a loss, so the mindset of both teams is that they want to win.”

Assessing last round’s three-point loss to Geelong at the MCG, Lewis, who started on the wing, before playing an influential role at half-back in the second half, said the Demons gave the Cats too many scoring opportunities.

“We really had to rectify that by making a few structural changes in the second half, and it really worked for us, but we were unable to kick a winning score by the end of the game,” he said.

“They had a bit of a run-on before half-time, so we came out of half-time … with me behind the ball and it added stability. We were still able to score with a seventh [player] behind the ball, so our scoring power didn’t diminish.

“It was just unfortunate that we didn’t capitalise on the opportunities that were there in the second half. We gave up too much of a score in the first half, which really hurt us.”

Lewis added that ruckman Max Gawn’s missed set-shot for goal in the dying stages wasn’t a talking point among the review.

“It’s always tough when you have the opportunity to kick the goal that can potentially win you the game,” he said.

“You do dwell on it as an individual, but there are moments throughout the game that may impact the final score and that’s what the review is about.

“Not once did we mention the goal – it was all about the other stuff that happened throughout the game. A little bit was about being defensive in the first half, but then capitalising on our opportunities in the second half. No mention was made about the goal and we move on.”