Hawthorn to share Buddy burden: Clarkson

Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson is tipping his defenders will share the Lance Franklin workload in Saturday’s AFL grand final.

In Franklin’s two clashes with his old side this season, Josh Gibson has more often than not been his direct opponent.

Clarkson expects both Gibson and Brian Lake will have to take care of Franklin at different stages in the decider and must be adaptable given Sydney’s multi-pronged potent forward line.

“It sort of moves around a fair bit, they’ve got four big guys down there,” Clarkson told the Nine Network.

“It’s not just going to be one of our defenders on one of their forwards throughout the day, they’ll have to swap and mix and match a fair bit.”

The two-time premiership coach is keenly awaiting the latest chapter in the rivalry between good friends Franklin and Gibson.

“They’ve had some beauties those two,” he said.

“They’re great mates. Great competitors.

“They used to go toe to toe a fair few times at training.”

Franklin’s first year at Sydney is being lauded as his best season ever, with the umpires suggesting as much by handing out a career-best 22 Brownlow votes.

Clarkson wasn’t quite so sure.

“He’s played some pretty good footy … I couldn’t think of him having a better season than in `08,” Clarkson said, recalling the Hawks’ first premiership under his watch when Franklin kicked an astonishing 113 goals.

Meanwhile, Clarkson suggested he had yet to decide whether Cyril Rioli would be named as the substitute in his first game since suffering a hamstring injury in round 15.

But he expects Rioli to improve on his modest showing in last Sunday’s VFL grand final.

“He wasn’t outstanding in that game, but it was his first game back,” he said.

“We think with another week of training under his belt that he can come in and make a contribution for us.”

Clarkson joked that the most-talked about selection dilemma of the season was “like getting a horse ready for the Melbourne Cup”.

“We’ve left it a bit fine. We finally got there,” he said.

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