Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson says Friday night’s AFL win over Collingwood was a finals rehearsal, but admits that’s no guarantee the Hawks can repeat it when it comes to the real thing.
Clarkson said the if the Hawks could continue to play the way they did in their 18.11 (119) to 12.12 (84) victory at the MCG, they could match anyone.
But after entering last year’s finals as clear premiership favourites, then just scraping through a preliminary final against Adelaide before falling to Sydney in the decider, Clarkson said it was all about whether they could reproduce that form when it most matters.
“It’s hard. We need to play at that type of standard in finals footy and we didn’t do that the last two games of last year,” Clarkson told reporters.
“That’s a significant challenge for us.
“If we can, we know we’re going to be really competitive against any side we comme up against.
“But actually saying it and doing it are two different things.”
But Clarkson said it was a good sign that Hawthorn notched a 35-point win against a Magpies side that convincingly beat reigning premiers Sydney in the previous round and threw everything at Hawthorn.
It was the Hawks’ fifth straight win over Collingwood, all by healthy margins.
“It was a really tough contest and it gives us a nice reminder of what’s coming in a few weeks’ time,” Clarkson said.
“Both sides were really hard at it and I’m really pleased that under that type of finals pressure we were able to stand up.”
Encouragingly for the Hawks, Lance Franklin returned from hamstring soreness with a fine four-goal performance, Grant Birchall slotted straight back into form in defence after an eight-week break with a knee injury and captain Luke Hodge was none the worse for wearing a protective glove to shield a thumb injury.
Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley wasn’t too disheartened by another loss to the Hawks, despite it dashing the Magpies’ top four hopes.
He believed the game was closer than the scoreboard indicated and that there were areas in which the Magpies could close the gap by finals.
“This one feels different to us than the ones we’ve played (previously against Hawthorn),” Buckley said.
“We expect to be in the mix against anyone going forward and if we keep doing that then we can do some damage.”
