Jarryd Roughead makes no apologies for Hawthorn’s hard-nosed approach ahead of this week’s much-anticipated AFL preliminary final rematch against Port Adelaide.
On Monday, Power onballer Hamish Hartlett said the imposing Hawks “almost bullied” teams into submission around the contest, with Port needing to match that physicality on Saturday night at Adelaide Oval.
“He can call us bullies but I don’t think we are – we’ve been playing that kind of footy for the last five or six years, so it’s not as if it’s anything new,” Roughead said on Tuesday.
“I think in the contest you’ve got to be hard and in and under because if you’re second to the prune you’re not going to be able to get your hands on it.
“I think we’ve been known as one of those footy sides that gets in and under … we know that it’s a pretty big area that we’ve got to be good at.”
After a shock loss to Essendon, Roughead said the Hawks had rediscovered that hardness at the contest and dominated in some critical areas in Sunday’s 70-point win over the Western Bulldogs.
Hawthorn defeated the Power by just three points to make it into last year’s grand final but Roughead doubted either side would hark back to that thrilling encounter in preparation for the rematch.
Port stormed back into winning form against North Melbourne last week after an 0-2 start to the season, making Saturday night’s clash a tantalising prospect.
Roughead said his side would need to be strong physically and mentally right from the outset in front of a parochial Adelaide crowd.
“They’re very good at quick starts over there at Adelaide Oval, especially with that crowd that gets behind them,” he said.
“If they get a bit of a run on makes it pretty hard to play catch-up footy.”
The Hawks expect to regain forward Bradley Hill, who missed the win over the Bulldogs with a concussion, with Cyril Rioli (shoulder) and Paul Puopolo (corked leg) also expected to be available.
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