The AFL Grand Final game on Saturday is between Hawthorn Hawks and Fremantle Dockers. The match is to be played at MCG with the opening bounce set to commence at 2.30pm local time with home team Hawthorn Hawks currently holding favouritism in the market. View our AFL live scores, odds and results for the game between Hawthorn Hawks and Fremantle Dockers.

WHERE AND WHEN: MCG, 2.30pm, Saturday 28 October

Opening odds comparison:

Hawthorn Hawks	1.65	1.65	1.63	1.65	1.65	1.65
Fremantle Dockers	2.30	2.30	2.30	2.30	2.30	2.30

Preview:

It’s the biggest weekend of the year for many Australians – the AFL Grand Final. The 2013 edition sees the Hawthorn Hawks take on the Fremantle Dockers, with kick-off
on Saturday, 2.30pm at the MCG. After 206 games and 5542 goals throughout the 2013 season, we are down to just two teams. While the Hawks will be favourites to win
this weekend, anything can happen in finals footy.

After finishing the regular season in first place and coming from 20 points behind last week against Geelong, Hawthorn will be tough to beat this weekend. Not only did they
manage to finish the regular season on top of the ladder, they also recorded two equal-club records; a 12-game winning streak between rounds 2 and 14 and an overall 19-3
win-loss record.

The Hawks have also dominated the Dockers in recent years, winning seven of their last eight clashes including the last four. Overall, Hawthorn have a 20-7 record against
Fremantle, something that will give them a lot of confidence going into this match. While the Hawks definitely know how to score points, however, Fremantle are the best
defensive side in the competition and will not let Hawthorn play their natural game. Only twice this season have the Dockers conceded more than 100 points, a great
record, even if one of these times was against the Hawks.

If Fremantle beat the Hawks this weekend, it will be because they find a way to upset their natural rhythm and stop their natural attacking flow. It also means that this
Grand Final could turn into a scrappy one, with both Hawthorn and Fremantle ranked in the top five for pressure acts on Champion Data. There will be plenty of pressure
placed on key Hawthorn players as the Dockers try to break down Hawthorn’s precise passing game.

Mitchell and Jack Gunston are key players for the Hawks, with Cyril Rioli also capable of making a big impact if he regains some confidence. For Fremantle, Michael
Marlow and Michael Johnson are important and both players will need to shine for Fremantle to overcome the Hawks. Chris Mayne might also play an important role for the
Dockers, especially with so much pressure on the likes of Pavlich, Michael Walters, Hayden Ballantyne, and Stephen Hill.

Fremantle will have a tough time trying to contain the free flowing Hawthorn attack, and this game might just get away from them. While they are quite capable of keeping
teams down for extended periods, stopping the Hawks on Grand Final day for four long quarters might be a little too tough. While the Dockers are capable of an upset if
they manage to defensively annoy the Hawks for extended periods, it is more likely that Hawthorn will cut through the Dockers defence in the third or final quarter.

Teams

Hawthorn Hawks
B: B.Stratton B.Lake B.Guerra
HB: S.Burgoyne J.Gibson G.Birchall
C: I.Smith S.Mitchell J.Lewis
HF: L.Breust L.Franklin C.Rioli
F: P.Puopolo J.Roughead D.Hale
FOLL: M.Bailey B.Sewell L.Hodge
I/C: B.Hill J.Gunston J.Simpkin L.Shiels
Emergencies M.Spangher S.Savage T.Duryea
IN: Simpkin
OUT: Whitecross (knee)

Fremantle Dockers
B: M.Johnson Z.Dawson P.Duffield
HB: L.Spurr L.McPharlin D.Pearce
C: D.Mundy R.Crowley T.Mzungu
HF: C.Sutcliffe C.Mayne N.Fyfe
F: Z.Clarke M.Pavlich M.Walters
FOLL: A.Sandilands M.de Boer S.Hill
I/C: H.Ballantyne N.Suban M.Barlow L.Neale
EMG: T.Sheridan J.Hannath A.Silvagni
IN: Nil
OUT: Nil

AFL’s Hawks should target Crowley: Wallace

Hawthorn three-time premiership player Terry Wallace says he would hatch a plan to take out Fremantle tagger Ryan Crowley if he was guiding the Hawks into Saturday’s AFL grand final.

Wallace, who coached the Western Bulldogs and Richmond, taking the Dogs to preliminary finals in 1997-98, predicted Crowley would get a stopping job on Hawthorn ball magnet Sam Mitchell.

Crowley has already blanketed Geelong star Steve Johnson and Sydney onballer Kieren Jack so far in the finals series and Wallace said he was also capable of blunting the influence of in-form Mitchell.

Wallace’s Hawthorn premiership teammate Peter Knights said the teammates of Mitchell, or whoever Crowley was tagging, needed to help him out with legal bumps and shepherds.

But Wallace said if he was coach, he would pick a specific moment early in the game and instruct his players to try to put Crowley out of action.

“If I’m the Hawthorn coach I’m going after Ryan Crowley,” Wallace told Melbourne’s SEN radio.

Wallace said he would instruct Mitchell to run wider than usual at a stoppage, in the expectation that the trailing Crowley would be in enough space to be left exposed.

“We’re going to get you a little bit wider where there’s a bit more room perhaps for somebody to be charging the other direction and we’re going to go after him,” Wallace said he would instruct the Hawks.

“This is grand final day, we are going to do what we need to do to win the game and we are going to try to put him out of contention in the game.

“You may only get one shot.

“We can’t be spending all our time and all our focus levels on this but we’re going to go after him.”

But Knights told fans that whoever Crowley targeted, that player should expect support from teammates, but needed to back their own ability.

“They’ll rely on their ability, their speed, their skills, to get the ball first,” Knights said as an on-stage guest at Hawthorn’s final training session at Waverley Park on Thursday.

“The second thing is you have your mates helping you out.”

Knights tipped the Hawks to win and their skills to hold up under Fremantle’s defensive pressure.

“We’ve always survived that fierce kind of pressure. That’s what you need to get to the grand final,” Knights said.

“So we’ll accept that. But I’m really confident we can break them open.”