Hawthorn Vice-Captain Dylan Moore and the Hawks are ready to take on GWS this Saturday afternoon at ENGIE Stadium in what will mark the beginning of the side’s second straight finals campaign.
Speaking to the media at Bunjil Bagora, Waverley Park, Moore touched on his team’s form leading into this weekend's Elimination Final, admitting that they’ve gone to work on their mentality and putting in full four-quarter performances as they prepare to face a talented GIANTS line-up on their home turf.
The 26-year-old also spoke about how he reflects on the season so far, what he expects from GWS and which teammate is “one of the hardest workers” on the field.
On how he reflects on the season so far
“You don’t really get to reflect. I know it’s a cliche, but once the season has gone, you just joke about how quickly it goes. We had a meeting and Sam said, ‘finals again, first day of September, first day of spring, how good’s this, we’re back in finals footy.’ This is my eighth year now, and my second finals series. You see teams now finishing up, and I just couldn’t imagine finishing up right now. It’s not really a ‘pinch me’ moment, this is our job. We want to work, we want to be deep into finals footy. I couldn’t imagine not playing finals right now.”
On Jack Ginnivan’s work rate
“He’s been tremendous. Credit to him, he went back to Box Hill, had the right attitude and came straight back in and ever since then, he’s just about been the best half-forward in the competition. He’s averaging about 20 (disposals) and a goal, and I know it’s not about stats, but what he’s doing with the ball in hand is tremendous, and he doesn’t get a lot of credit. Everyone talks about how smart he is, but once he’s on the field, he’s one of the hardest workers. If you watch him live, you watch him put his head down, work to the next contest, work to the next contest again, hats off to him, he’s going really well.”
On GWS
“They’ve got a lot of physical guys and a lot of talent, and we do too. I hope it’s a fiery clash. I can’t wait to get back out there, fly up to Sydney and hopefully get the job done.”
On Hawthorn’s form leading into finals
“We’ve watched a lot of vision on our games, particularly the last quarters. Maybe our mentality hasn’t been as good as it could be, we go away slightly from our game style, but then we reflect and go, the last three months of footy, we’ve been in every game and not many sides can say that. We know that our best stacks up and even our worst stacks up. If we’re playing not-so-good footy, we’re only losing by three goals. If we’re playing really good footy, we’re beating good sides. We know playing against a really talented GIANTS side with maybe a few players coming back at their home ground, we’re going to have to be at our best.”
Watch Moore’s full press conference below
