The last time Hawthorn played finals, James Worpel was 19, Alastair Clarkson was coach and Sam Mitchell was helping mastermind West Coast’s 2018 premiership run.
Six years on, Clarkson’s Kangaroos are all that is standing between now-Hawks coach Mitchell and midfield general Worpel from locking in a top-eight berth – and potentially creating a very special season.
James Worpel of the Hawks celebrates kicking a goal.Credit: AFL Photos via Getty Images
“It’s really good. I’ve been here seven years now and my first year played a couple finals, but I probably didn’t appreciate it,” Worpel told AAP ahead of Saturday’s match at University of Tasmania Stadium in Launceston.
“So hopefully this year we can start winning and win some finals and see what we can do.
“The excitement, our running profile, our athletic profile has got to be a strength of ours.
“We still have some experience, we have some premiership players. We just have to play our way and hopefully it stacks up.”
With Will Day (dislocated collarbone) absent for at least another week, it will be on Worpel – who had 29 disposals and kicked two goals against Richmond – and Jai Newcombe to lead the midfield.
“He’s one of our best players, so we’ll miss him, but we just have to have another soldier stand up,” Worpel, 25, said.
“He’s such a hard player to replace, I don’t think we can replace him. But we get guys like Cam Mackenzie through there – he’s a classy mover. The more time he gets in there the better.
“I have some good leaders around me. I don’t have to do too much, to be honest. We’re all pretty, pretty level headed in there.
“I’ve just got to play my role and get my job done first and then the rest will take care of itself.”
Finn Maginness is replacing Day, while Jack Scrimshaw has been named despite suffering a dislocated finger against Richmond.
Finals is in Hawthorn’s hands – with a win guaranteed to lock in a top-eight berth.
“Great feeling. But we’ve still got to have a hard edge to us,” Newcombe said.
“North Melbourne are playing really good footy as well.
“So it’s not going to be an easy win. We’ve just got to make sure we keep fronting up and keep winning.
“They play down in Tassie as much as we do, so they love it down there.
“They’ve got some quality players, they’re a good team, and we’ve got to play our best footy.”
The game has been brought forward from 4.40pm AEST to 12.30pm to minimise the need for floodlights amid a pay dispute between electrical workers and TasNetworks.
There is power at the stadium and the network is secure but if there is an outage, staff do not intend to intervene.
Retiring former Hawk Liam Shiels will play his final game for the Kangaroos.
North’s Will Phillips, Toby Pink and Blake Drury have been recalled with Charlie Comben (concussion), Miller Bergman (concussion) and Eddie Ford (dropped) out.
AAP
