Dylan Moore is ready for some spice in the Hawthorn-GWS elimination final, having practised on teammate Josh Ward.
The star Hawk admitted he was responsible for a dust-up with Ward at training last Saturday, blaming his aggression on the AFL pre-finals bye.
This Saturday’s clash at Engie Stadium could well be heated, with little separating the two teams in their last few games.
Rival captains James Sicily and Toby Greene are also no strangers to argy-bargy.
‘I’m pretty happy now, but on Saturday we got out here and there were a few punch-ons, because we wanted to be playing footy,’ Moore said on Monday at a club media session.
‘I was a bit angry on Saturday – I decked him (Ward) and he went back at me, but all in good fun.
Hawthorn’s Dylan Moore revealed he decked a teammate at training last week ahead of this week’s elimination final against GWS
‘They (GWS) have a lot of physical guys and a lot of talent that probably fires off that and we do too. I hope it’s a fiery clash.’
While Moore is no fan of the pre-finals bye, he concedes it should benefit the Hawks given their tough run-in to September.
‘I love footy so I’d love to just keep playing, but the body feels really good after a probably tough six weeks of footy where we knew we were going to lose one or two games,’ he said.
‘It’s a little bit of an equaliser, but if you’re top four and you win, then you get another week off…the top four have that advantage anyway and rightfully so.’
A big talking point this week is whether Hawthorn will recall running defender Josh Weddle, who has been out since June with a back injury.
It’s been a big few days for Weddle, who resumed playing in the VFL last Saturday and then moved into Moore’s house.
But Moore said he had no insight into whether the Hawks would recall Weddle for Saturday’s clash.
‘He’s a massive player for us, so influential, the way he runs and defends as well. It sets us up a lot and creates a lot of threat, offensively and defensively,’ he said.
Josh Ward was on the receiving end of a Dylan Moore hit at training last week
Dylan Moore said teammate Jack Ginnivan will be a key figure in this weekend’s finals match
One of the keys for the Hawks will be half-forward Jack Ginnivan. Moore said since Ginnivan was dropped during the season, he has made an outstanding AFL return.
‘He’s been tremendous – credit to him, he went back to Box Hill, had the right attitude, came straight back in and since that, he’s been just about the best half-forward in the comp,’ Moore said.
‘Everyone talks about how smart he is, but he’s one of the hardest workers.
‘If you watch him live, watch him put his head down and work to the next contest and the next contest again. Hats off to him, he’s going really well.’
While the Hawks ended the regular season with a loss to the Brisbane Lions, meaning they are on the road for their elimination final, Moore has no doubt they are ready.
‘The last three months of footy we’ve been in every game and not many sides can say that,’ he said.
‘We know our best stacks up and even our worst stacks up.’
