Dermott Brereton made a fine art of ruffling opponents’ feathers before Fremantle Ryan Crowley was old enough to go to school, and the Hawthorn legend admits he’s an unabashed fan of the Fremantle tagger.

Five-time premiership forward Brereton is tipping his old side to win by a “comfortable margin” in Saturday’s AFL grand final against the Dockers.

Many factors will determine whether that transpires, but high among them will be whether Crowley manages to curb the influence of whoever Fremantle coach Ross Lyon sends him to.

Brereton expects it would be speedster Isaac Smith in the first instance.

“I don’t think he’ll go to (Sam) Mitchell. Mitchell might get off the leash and he might flick over to him,” Brereton said on Wednesday.

“I think they’d prefer he starts with someone he can run alongside next to (like Smith).”

Brownlow medallist Gary Ablett criticised Crowley’s methods last year on Twitter, while North Melbourne veteran Brent Harvey also told the tribunal this year he was pinched “about 300 times” by the master niggler during a match.

But there’s no doubting his effectiveness, with Crowley getting the better of Geelong wizard Steve Johnson and Sydney co-captain Kieren Jack in the Dockers’ two finals this year.

“Ryan Crowley is fantastic,” Brereton said.

“I reckon it’s great there is a game within the game.

“He’s a good bloke. He’s a mongrel out on the ground, but he has a dedication to a craft which is something that is very much the opposite of glamorous.

“I’m full of admiration for him.”

Brereton was in his element at Greater Western Sydney’s grand final lunch on Wednesday, recounting his colourful run-in with Mark Yates that, in part, led to Yates cleaning him up in the 1989 grand final.

“I kneed him in the nuts … I was a nasty piece of work,” he said.

The praise heaped on GWS’s Jeremy Cameron reached new levels at the function, with Wayne Carey saying he has the potential to be the game’s greatest centre half-forward.