DEFENDER Josh Gibson says his team knows last Friday night’s win now means nothing, with a whole new task awaiting the Hawks in Saturday’s Grand Final against Fremantle.
The Hawks won one of the all-time great Preliminary Finals against Geelong last Friday night, in which it overcame a 20 point three-quarter time deficit to eventually prevail by five points to book a spot in the 2013 decider.
But while Alastair Clarkson’s team will take much from the victory – namely the belief and confidence the team has in itself to overcome any challenge, the Preliminary Final is now a distant memory.
“It was a good win but we move on because it stands for nothing,” Gibson told hawthornfc.com.au
“All it did was give us a ticket to the big stage and you work now on doing everything you can to win this game.”
The Hawks will play Fremantle in the Grand Final, a team that has throughout the season proven itself to be one of the best pressure sides in the league.
The Dockers qualified for the finals in third position, but have lived up to their “anywhere, anytime” mantra in which it proclaims to be able to beat any time and any venue.
That was proved true in week one of the finals when the Dockers beat the Cats in Geelong and now it has its sights on the Hawks at the MCG in the biggest game and on the biggest stage.
Gibson says he and his teammates and coaches have nothing but a healthy respect for their Grand Final opponents.
“They play as a team and that’s really important, they’ve got 22 guys playing a role – Ross Lyon has been awesome since he’s been there,” he said.
“They’ve played some really good footy this year – I saw that game against Geelong and they were super and obviously good against the Swans as well.
“They’re really well respected; they’ve had a great year.”
Interestingly and most unusually, the Hawks haven’t played the Dockers since Round 4 this season.
It seems like an eternity ago, and almost as if the two sides haven’t met at all this season such has been the changes to both sides, particularly Fremantle.
The Hawks won that game easily, but you get the feeling nothing will come easy on Saturday.
Since that game, Fremantle have gone from a side seen to be struggling without its stars Matthew Pavlich and Aaron Sandliands because of injury to a side that is so even it is capable of replacing anyone, even its biggest names.
But it’s not only personnel that has changed at Fremantle, but too, the way in which they play their football.
Regarded as an extremely defensive team at the start of 2013 who focus little on attack, the Dockers have added an attacking flair to complement their ferocious defence.
The flair comes from the likes of Stephen Hill on the wing, Nat Fyfe across half forward and in the midfield and then up forward, the excitement of Hayden Ballantyne and Michael Walters.
“So much has changed – line-ups have changed and teams probably start tinkering with their game plan from Rounds 6 or 7,” Gibson said.
“To think it’s just going to happen like it did down there because we beat them, that won’t be the case.”