Brent Guerra has today ruled himself out of Saturday’s Grand Final.

In a meeting today with Senior Coach Alastair Clarkson, Guerra said he was desperate to play but knew he had run out of time.

Guerra then spoke to the playing group this afternoon to inform them of the decision.

The defender injured his left hamstring in the fourth quarter of Hawthorn’s Round 23 match (Friday 31 August) against West Coast Eagles.

In sharing his decision with teammates, Guerra said that his rehabilitation had progressed well over the past three weeks, but that he couldn’t guarantee his fitness going into the most important game of the year for the Club.

“As desperate as I am to play on Saturday, I realised that I couldn’t guarantee to Clarko or the team that I could do everything that would be asked of me in a Grand Final,” Guerra said.

“It was a gut wrenching decision to make and it was difficult to address my teammates and coaches today, but they know they have a job to do on Saturday and that needs to be their only focus right now,” Guerra said.