While they’ll review the tape, Hawthorn midfielder Shaun Burgoyne says the reigning premiers will all but dismiss their qualifying finals loss to West Coast as they prepare for an AFL grand final against the Eagles.
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North Melbourne game was pretty hot. But the Hawks have regained their mojo since that encounter, disposing of Adelaide and Fremantle to reach their fourth straight grand final.
He will also need to show that he can jump and plant both feet before being cleared to play, but with the grand final five days away the club’s leading goal-kicker is in the box seat to return.
Hawthorn have taken the hard road to this year’s grand final having made two trips to Perth and not had a week off, but Roughead said his teammates have been carefully managed and are ready for the challenge.
Burgoyne he was constantly reminded of his record-setting finals achievements but grand final week still affected him. “I think it would be good to train there”.
“We’ve got to match that”.
“No doubt it’s a major factor that we can draw on our knowledge – we’ve been here before and we know what to do this week”, he said.
Hawthorn forward Jack Gunston is set to reclaim his spot in the Hawks’ AFL grand final side after completing a searching fitness test at training on Monday.
West Coast had no player with more than five disposals to that point, as Ben Jacobs and Sam Gibson were able to lock down Luke Shuey and Andrew Gaff, and Todd Goldstein dominated in the ruck.
“We looked at flights a couple of months ago and they were already up around the $1000 one-way area and I figured I’d just try to go to Canberra first and it was so much easier”.
The Eagles head to the MCG next week for just the second time this season (they beat Richmond by 20 points in round 12).
“Just playing my role for my team is the big thing… making sure that we play our role and play as a unit, that’s what’s been getting us wins this year”, he said.
The Kangaroos proved last year’s Preliminary Final appearance was no fluke, earning another one with a strong win over Sydney.
And by the time Shuey burst clear of the pack for a running goal late in the term, West Coast led by 22 points. Josh Kennedy lifted the side with a big contested mark and goal in the second term to ignite his side.
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“We had more scoring shots, kicked lots of points”, Simpson said. “But there was a stage tonight where I thought it could have cost us the game”.
