Grand Final experience the key for Hawks: Roughead

On Friday night, a trio of Hawks yet to win a grand final – Ryan Schoenmakers, Billy Hartung and James Frawley – competed well for the club and Burgoyne suggested the senior players wanted to reward their teammates’ effort.

West Coast coach Adam Simpson says his side are “on a mission” to win a premiership following their preliminary win over North Melbourne.

The Eagles qualified for their first crack at the decider since 2006 with a hard-fought 25-point win over North Melbourne on Saturday night.

“It’s a terrific challenge for West Coast – are they playing in the present, or are they thinking about grand finals?” Please. You have got to look at form and how the club has gone about it in the last eight weeks, and Hawthorn are experienced warriors. “I don’t think we’re going to fluke it. We’ll have to earn every kick and handball that we can get next week”.

He discounted the Hawk’s MCG advantage and said it was crucial the young Eagles stick to their usual routines this week.

“You’d feel for anyone who misses out on a grand final”, Jarryd Roughead said. They have played there just once this season beating Richmond in round 12.

“No doubt it’s a major factor, that we can draw on the knowledge that we’ve been here before”, Roughead said on Monday.

West Coast had no player with more than five disposals to that point, as Ben Jacobs and Sam Gibson were able to lock down Luke Shuey and Andrew Gaff, and Todd Goldstein dominated in the ruck.

“It is what it is”.

“Just playing my role for my team is the big thing… making sure that we play our role and play as a unit, that’s what’s been getting us wins this year”, he said.

“I think that’s also something pretty important that they don’t try and do anything too out of the ordinary and just stick to what they usually do”.

Simpson said he had not thought too much about the Eagles’ preparation for the Grand Final but he did say it would be good to have a training run on the MCG.

West Coast’s fledgling squad struggled to match the more battle-hardened sides past year, but an extensive weights program over summer has since closed that gap. After quarter-time the Eagles kicked 10.18 to North Melbourne’s 4.9. Josh Kennedy lifted the side with a big contested mark and goal in the second term to ignite his side.

“We had more scoring shots, kicked lots of points”, Simpson said. In the early stages of the game evergreen Roo Brent Harvey was left to run free and he made the Eagles pay, with plenty of touches and three inside 50s.