For Fremantle and reigning premiers Brisbane, they\u2019ve had to bounce back from shock first-up losses.<\/p>\n
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Sydney and Hawthorn meantime will have to fight their mental scars from the last meeting with their respective opponent if they are to go through to the AFL grand final.<\/p>\n
SYDNEY v FREMANTLE<\/p>\n
Midfield maestros Errol Gulden and Andy Brayshaw have appeared on AFL360 to share how they are tackling the week ahead of Friday night\u2019s contest at the SCG.<\/p>\n
For Gulden and the Swans, the message from coach Dean Cox was simply to play your role.<\/p>\n
\u201cBlokes that didn\u2019t think they\u2019d be playing in the finals \u2013 they are coming in and are just loving every moment,\u201d he shared.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt definitely fills you with energy.<\/p>\n
Errol Gulden and Will Day appear on AFL360.Source: FOX SPORTS<\/p>\n
\u201cThe messaging from the coaching staff is no one has to do anything more than just play their role.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe back that if we can do that over and over again, hopefully the result will take care of itself.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo one needs to put the cape on and do anything special. It\u2019s just playing your role \u2026 the game plan\u2019s good enough.\u201d<\/p>\n
But the Swans will have to shake off their most recent clash with the Dockers \u2013 where Fremantle piled on nine final quarter goals to claim a 38-point win.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom memory looking back, we nailed our role for three quarters and went away from it in the last quarter when we were challenged,\u201d Gulden said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are an outstanding team Freo, they\u2019ve got talent right across the board.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know when they get their tail up, they can kick six or eight goals on you like they did against us.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe stoppage battle and clearance is going to be really important for the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s pretty boring but it\u2019s literally just playing your role over and over again and which team can do that for longer.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brayshaw meantime opened up on the \u201creality check\u201d his side was handed by Hawthorn in the qualifying final, and the response from coach Justin Longmuir.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe really challenged the players,\u201d the Freo midfielder said.<\/p>\n
\u201cExternally fans and media were saying we should have got that first job done against the Hawks.<\/p>\n
Josh Dunkley and Andy Brayshaw join AFL360.Source: FOX SPORTS<\/p>\n
\u201c(Longmuir) was a really calm presence.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe always jokes about when we don\u2019t win, he won\u2019t go to Bunnings on the weekend; he wants to stay home and review the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we have a good win, he goes to Bunnings, shows his face a bit. I\u2019m sure he made a few trips over the weekend.<\/p>\n
\u201c(The Hawks\u2019 loss) sort of kicked us into gear.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re starting to play our best footy again.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re loving the idea of the challenge of going over to Sydney and playing for it all.\u201d<\/p>\n
Describing \u201ccontest as king\u201d, Brayshaw said there was plenty of confidence within the team.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like if we play our best footy we\u2019ll give ourselves a really good chance,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Does Butters deal ‘pass the pub test?’ | 01:04<\/p>\n
HAWTHORN v BRISBANE<\/p>\n
Who knows more about finals pressure than Lion Josh Dunkley?<\/p>\n
The midfielder is heading into a remarkable 25th AFL final \u2013 and his sixth preliminary final this weekend.<\/p>\n
But when it comes to the secret to success?<\/p>\n
\u201cFinals are finals,\u201d he said on AFL 360.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no real secret to it \u2013 you\u2019ve got to put your head over the ball when it matters.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dunkley was adamant the Lions wouldn\u2019t produce the same type of performance that saw them jumped by the Swans in the qualifying final.<\/p>\n
Ralph: ‘Merrett will get to Hawthorn’ | 01:20<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s one thing that I always admire of Fages (coach Chris Fagan) is his ability to connect to the group,\u201d he shared.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe knows what buttons to push.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s times like last week where he really needed to hit us between the eyes and get us back on track really quickly.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf our pressure is on early, it makes it hard for the opposition to match that.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know if we get that right and turn up in the right frame of mind, we give ourselves a massive chance.\u201d<\/p>\n
And they\u2019ll take on a Hawthorn side that the Lions dismantled by 67 points just last month.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can\u2019t shy away from it \u2013 we\u2019ve done a lot of reviewing,\u201d Hawks star Will Day said of that loss.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the end of the day, we looked back at that game and it was the basics.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to dial in on that.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe did some work on Brisbane, but a lot was looking in our own backyard and getting that right first.\u201d<\/p>\n
Logan Morris signs contact extension | 02:42<\/p>\n
Describing it as an \u201cun-Hawthorn like performance\u201d, Day said it was a case of everyone trying too hard to get it right.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat Brisbane game, myself and a few others as well it\u2019s out of a good heart trying to do what you can for the team,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut sometimes you just need to take a step back.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust play your role.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that game I had built it up. I tried to emulate it as a final because I hadn\u2019t played one before and tried to do too much.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was to our demise in the end.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll be going in this week just really focusing on the basics.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Four of the AFL\u2019s biggest names have opened up on their preliminary final preparations as redemption looms large.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":892944,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-892943","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/892943","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=892943"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/892943\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/892944"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=892943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=892943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=892943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}