WAGGA AFL footballer Harry Cunningham predicts the Hawks can etch their name into history with a premiership three-peat on Saturday.
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Cunningham is one player that knows first hand how good both Hawthorn and West Coast are, having copped the full force of both teams at Sydney.
The Swans suffered heavy defeats from both Hawthorn and Sydney in consecutive weeks in July, before crashing out of the finals in straight sets this month.
Cunningham believes the Hawks’ big game experience will come to the fore in Saturday’s AFL grand final.
“I think the Hawks will, just purely on they’ve been there and done it before,” Cunningham said.
“I think the loss to West Coast in the first week of the finals will spur them on a bit.
“It was a bit of a wake up call they needed and they’ve bounced back well the last couple of weeks.”
Cunningham said the positive for West Coast is that they have been successfully able to shut down Hawthorn’s game before.
“First of all you’ve got to win the footy and turn them around, but you’ve got to shut down that ball movement,” he said of the Hawks.
“They’re such good quality kickers and users of the footy and last time West Coast played Hawthorn they were able to shut that down.
“West Coast have got a well known defence in the way they go about it these days and if they can do what they did last time and shut down that ball movement they’ll go a long way to winning the game.”
Hawthorn is happy to play the Eagles back on the MCG but Cunningham believes that can be overplayed.
“It is a bit of an advantage but it’s not as big as some people say,” he said.
“It’s a grand final, it’s whoever rocks up on the day and wants to put it all on the line pretty much.”
Cunningham played in last year’s grand final and admits it will be tough to watch.
“Very hard, it was pretty hard to watch last week actually,” he said.
“Because you’ve been there before and the way we went out, we were disappointed how the year ended. It is tough to watch but I’ll be watching for a few of the Riverina boys and hoping they have good games.”
Cunningham explained there is a strong bond between Riverina’s AFL players.
“It was Matty Suckling’s 100th game the other week and I sent him a message to wish him all the best and I’ll wish him all the best this week as well,” he said.
“I hope they do play well because you know it’s good for the Riverina and the community. It’s good to have players from here winning premierships and having success, although I wish it was me.”
