HAWTHORN skipper Richie Vandenberg believes his side’s toughrun into September will help them deal with the pressure-cooker situation thatawaits them at Telstra Dome this weekend.
The Hawks meet a finals-hardened Adelaide Crows outfit onSaturday afternoon, and the loser of the elimination final can start planningtheir Mad Monday celebrations.
But Vandenberg is confident his men are equipped to deal withthe finals intensity that will confront them at Telstra Dome, even if many ofthem will be playing their first finals.
“We’ve been playing mini-finals for the past five or sixweeks as far as we’re concerned,” he said.
“So we think that the young guys have been somewhatprepared, albeit for the fact that most of them haven’t played in a finals gamebefore.
“All in all, it’s mostly just going to be a great experienceand the pressure that comes with it is something that these guys certainlywon’t be able to predict what it’s going to do to them, but I’ve got goodconfidence that the group will be able to handle it.”
The Hawks captain acknowledged his team seemed to have gonefrom flag fancy to elimination final underdog in the space of a few days.
But he said he and his teammates were confident in their abilityand knew they had what it took to match it with the competition’s elite.
“We’ve been under no illusions all year as to where as agroup we feel we’re at,” he said.
“We went into last week confident we could beat Sydney but unfortunatelyfor us we were unable to do that.
“But as a group we’ve shown over the course of the year thatif we get our heads right we can bounce back very quickly the next week.
“The challenge for us now is to see what we can learn out ofthat game (against Sydney) and what we’re able to do about it over the courseof the six days we’ve got to make sure we go out and approach Adelaide and putup a good performance.”
Saturday will mark the Hawks’ return to finals footballafter a six-year absence.
During that time there have been some low moments for theclub, but Vandenberg said he had always remained hopeful that a quickturnaround was just around the corner.
“As a player, even when you’re in the years where you think ‘Gee,your back’s really up against it’, you still have in the back of your mind thathope that at any stage you could make it,” he said.
“All players at all clubs have that, and you need to havethat hope to motivate you.
“It doesn’t surprise me at all with the group that we’vegot, and their approach to their footy over the past three years … It doesn’tsurprise me at all that we’ve got this opportunity now.”
For all AFL finalsnews, visit Septopia at afl.com.au
