This week’s the big one, and we take on minor premiers Hawthorn on Saturday at the MCG. Looking at the Hawthorn side, there is no doubt there are a number of dangerous players.

Obviously there’s Franklin and Rioli in the forward line and then Mitchell, Sewell and Burgoyne in the midfield, and in my area of concern there is of course Birchall and Gibson, who are really important players in defence. Having said that, the Grand Final is obviously one of those days where any one of the opposition’s players can get off the chain, so we will be on high alert.

Throughout this year’s finals series we have looked at all the Hawks players pretty closely, and looking at last week’s game against Adelaide, it really was their match-winning players in Franklin and Rioli that got them over the line. There is no doubt that when the game is tight, they are the players we have to watch.

Reflecting on our win over Collingwood last Friday night, Lewis Jetta was really important for us with three goals and he also used his run to his advantage, which is always what we ask of him. Lewis Roberts-Thomson also played his role really well and kicked a couple of goals, and Jude Bolton contributed two goals, which was good as well.

While there was no real stand-out for us on Friday night, apart from Jetts’ pretty exciting goals for the fans, it was a pretty even contribution without any one player really taking the game apart.

As it’s panned out this season, that even contribution has been a bit of a positive for us. Of course, we’d certainly like someone to jump up and kick five or six goals, but in some ways, that’s easier to shut down, whereas shutting down a number of guys who can kick goals is a tougher task for an opposition defence.  Before the finals, we had eight guys who had kicked over 20 goals for the season, so that gives us more avenues and an ability to spread the load, which hopefully works again for one more week.

Grand Final day is obviously a huge game for all our players, particularly for those who are playing in their first Grand Final.  It’s hard to say how nerves will affect some of our younger players. I can’t speak for them as it’s an individual thing, but I’d say some will be anxious, some will be excited and some will be a little bit nervous. We will be talking about our processes and structurally what we want to do well and reinforcing what has worked well up to this point to combat any nerves those less-experienced players might have.

Looking ahead to the match, I think we certainly need to win the ball in the middle of the ground to get on top of the Hawks. Obviously winning the contested ball is really important and limiting the run and effectiveness when the Hawks get the ball is also important. I think, broadly speaking, those things are important, but as coaches we drill down into it a bit further and that’s something we’ll be doing ahead of the match.

This is my first year as a senior assistant coach and also my first Grand Final in this role. I’m trying to treat this week like I would every other week and do what I do and Horse has also been big on sticking to our processes and what we’ve done all year. Our preparation has and will be the same as it’s been for the rest of the year, so we’ll go in as prepared as we can, and control what we can control as a coach ahead of the big match. But the fact is on game day, it’s up to the players to make things happen and there is no doubt they’ll be giving their all this weekend in Melbourne.