CAPTAIN Luke Hodge is a certain starter in Saturday’s AFL Grand Final after overcoming the illness that forced him out of the preliminary final team that defeated Adelaide at the MCG.
The Club’s inspirational skipper was struck down by gastro the night before the match, bed-ridden since 7.30pm on Friday night.
Too sick to watch in the stands, Hodge was in quarantine, away from the playing group taking part in the preliminary final win over the Crows.
But, after returning to the Club on Monday and taking part in training on both Monday and Tuesday, Hodge is a certainty to lead the Hawks into battle for the 2012 AFL premiership.
General Manager - Football Operations, Mark Evans says it would take more than a bug to keep Hodge out of the opportunity to play in another grand final.
“I’m sure he’ll be there, and he’ll be desperate to be there,” he said.
“It might take something far more serious than that for ‘Hodgey’ not to be there this week.
“He’s a guy we’re looking forward to having back.”
Evans says it must have been some bug that floored the captain, a player who has the reputation as one of the game’s most courageous players.
Hodge infamously played in the 2008 premiership winning side with broken ribs and was best on ground for the Hawks, winning the Norm Smith Medal.
“One thing is for sure, if Luke Hodge says he’s too sick to play, you know he’s pretty sick,” Evans said.
One player who won’t be donning the brown and gold for Hawthorn on Grand Final day is Brent Guerra.
Injured in the final round of the home-and-away season, Guerra has failed in his bid to return for the grand final, pulling himself out of contention on Monday.
Evans says the gritty defender did all he could to get his hamstring injury right, but ultimately felt he couldn’t withstand the rigors of a grand final.
“We were pretty strong early on that it was going to be tough for Brent,” he said.
“He just wanted to give it a go and make sure that he tried whatever he could to get up for the game.
“At the start of this week, we knew that he would still have some way to go and, that he’d have to prove to us that he could kick fully, participate fully in training and really do a hard session.
“It was a pretty tough decision, a gut wrenching decision for Brent but at least he’s made that decision with team interests (in mind) and he’s made the call early, which allows the group to then focus on what they need to do.”
The Hawks have taken a relaxed training approach to the game, keeping its sessions short and sharp ahead of the showdown with the Swans at the MCG on Saturday.
Evans said training loads are customarily reduced in grand final week to keep the players fresh for the biggest game of the year.
“Training is never busy in grand final week,” he said. “It’s always really short sessions, sharp to keep the players as fresh as you can.
“What that does, is it keep them really motivated and energetic and enthusiastic.”
Kate Salemme is a member of Hawthorn Football Club's Digital Media team reporting exclusively for hawthornfc.com.au from the Ricoh Centre.
Injury list
Andrew Boseley (shoulder) - season
Stephen Gilham (quad) - unavailable
Brent Guerra (hamstring) - unavailable
Brendan Whitecross (knee) - season
Luke Lowden (wrist) - season
Michael Osborne (knee) - season
Alex Woodward (knee) - season
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