Senior Coach Daniel Webster says he was proud of the efforts of his players in a 'hard-fought game' against Richmond on Sunday, as the Hawks prevailed by 23 points to lock up second spot on the ladder following the conclusion of the home and away season.
The victory ensures a double chance and a first home final, with the brown and gold now set to host the Lions in a Qualifying Final.
Here are the key points from Webster following the win:
ON THE RESULT
"Our goal today was to get the win to get that home final. Obviously it was a very hard-fought game, but very proud of the group to persevere and get over the line. I thought our second quarter wasn't great. I challenged the group on our contested footy and I thought the responded incredibly well in the third quarter. I thought that was the one that set the game up for us. Then it was good to get the rewards at the end as it was hard to score. But just so proud of the group and the way they finished the game off in the end."
ON HIS SIDE'S FORM AHEAD OF FINALS
"Playing good sides going into finals is the perfect preparation. This is the perfect preparation, playing Melbourne last week and Richmond here today, who were playing for a home final themselves. So I think it is the perfect lead in for what's going to be another really, really hard game next week, which is great for us. It's good in a sense because it adds more pressure to what you are doing, and we need to learn how to handle that stuff, because that's what finals is all about. At some point in the next couple of weeks we will be playing for our season, and that's the most pressure you can be in."
ON WINNING THE McCLELLAND TROPHY
"Every club speaks about that and wanting to have that, but in all my time so far at Hawthorn, the club has acted upon that from the top down. They are always supporting the program and the game and coming down all the time. I can't speak highly enough of everyone at the club, and again, it starts at the top and they lead the way. We've had men's players helping out in our coaching ranks, and Sam (Mitchell) is always floating around and getting in our ear. It's a great vibe at the club at the moment, it's a great place to be."
ON THE KEY FOCUSES IN FINALS
"There's always a lot of things that you are trying to work on. Generally in finals you need to get the contest right, first and foremost. And as I said, today there were moments that we weren't good enough across the board on that, so that will be a big thing for us to get that right. It will be the same for every week, we try to play the same way every week and we will make little tweaks here and there, but realistically it is about trying to play four quarters of hard football, and that's what we will be chasing after and trying to do."
