Fremantle coach Ross Lyon knows how much losing AFL grand finals in consecutive years burns and has reminded Hawthorn it’s a feeling they’ll be desperate to avoid.
Lyon suspects that Hawthorn figures have been trying to ramp up the pressure of expectation on the Dockers in the lead-up to their first decider on Saturday.
He did his best to shift that pressure back their way on Friday, saying the Hawks had had a great season but the possibility of back-to-back grand final defeats loomed, after they were upset by Sydney last year.
“We’re certainly under no illusions as to how great a team Hawthorn’s been all year,” Lyon told reporters.
“That burn of the losing grand final year on year, going back-to-back, which I’ve done and experienced, losing two.
“They’ll be keen to avoid that.”
Lyon is searching for his first flag as a coach, after going desperately close with St Kilda in both 2009, when they lost to Geelong by 12 points, and 2010, when the Saints drew with Collingwood before losing the replay.
He said the lesson he took from those defeats was the same one Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson has repeatedly emphasised since last year’s grand final loss: to keep knocking on the door until it opens.
“That’s the same principle I apply to myself as well as the collective of the club,” Lyon said.
Hawks captain Luke Hodge admitted last year’s defeat would always burn inside him and his teammates.
But he says they’re focused on making this chance count, not making up for last year’s missed opportunity.
Lyon said his club would enter the grand final in strong form, after last Saturday night’s extraordinarily dominant preliminary final win over Sydney.
That performance prompted Hawks great David Parkin to compliment the Dockers on applying “manic pressure” at a level greater than anything produced previously in the game.
Parkin also lavished praise on Lyon, saying he had never seen a coach get a team so committed to a method of play.
But Lyon suspects the four-time premiership coach’s praise might have been designed to put Fremantle off their guard.
“Parko’s been very specific in his praise and a couple others,” Lyon said.
“The suspicion in me maybe looks at that.
“But it is just hype … at the end of the day we’ve spoken about writing our own story.”