Hawthorn defender James Frawley may not have been a statistical leader on Sunday, but he played a role that rendered him one of the most important players on the ground.
Frawley went head to head with one of the competition’s superstar forwards Ben Brown, restricting the Roos sharpshooter to just one goal for the game.
To his own admission, the 30-year-old started slowly, with Brown getting on top of him early with one goal and another two misses in the opening term.
But, second in last year’s Coleman Medal count, Brown was allowed just two touches after quarter time, with his impact in front of goal limited to that first quarter.
“I was battling early – I got a huge corky last week so I had to battle through that first quarter,” Frawley said.
“But, after I got moving and started warming up a bit, I started moving alright and thought I had the better of him in the last three quarters.
“It was a good battle, he is a good player.”
Frawley commended the Hawks midfielders on the pressure they were able to apply.
“It always helps when the pressure up the ground is good.
“It was pretty poor in the first quarter, but then in the last three quarters it was really good.”
