Luke Hodge has revealed the details of a pre-game speech from Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson in the lead up to the 2014 Grand Final.
The Hawks went into the decider against the Sydney Swans as slight outsiders after John Longmire’s men finished the home and away season on top of the ladder and had won their two finals comfortably.
Hodge says Clarkson wanted to draw on the past experience of the unsuccessful 2012 Grand Final, where the Hawks were beaten by the Swans, as the inspiration for the next edition two years on.
The former skipper explained why the master coach used passion, personal emotion and previous history, including the presence of ex-Hawk Lance Franklin in a Swans jumper, as his key points in the rev-up.
“The biggest thing you can get from a footballer is passion,” Hodge said on SEN Mornings.
“You bring out passion, you hit them personally so they second guess or you have a go against their courage or have a go against them as a person.
“And then previous history, that’s the biggest thing that I’ve found.
“A good example is going into the 2014 Grand Final against Sydney. Sydney were top of the table, were favourites to win that day.
“The day before, Clarko’s speech was all about what they did to us in 2012. ‘Remember back to that day, how did you feel? How embarrassed were you? You had your family there, what was it like after the game watching them sing the song?’
“Then to finish with, ‘Your mate’s gone up there. Two years ago you played in a losing Grand Final with ‘Bud’, now he’s trying to take the premiership medal off you just like Sydney did two years ago’.”
Hodge acknowledged that Clarkson’s strategy did hit a nerve with the playing group.
“You don’t reckon we were fired up when we were walking out of that meeting. It’s amazing if you can hit the personal side of things, and this is a coach saying it to you,” he added.
“If there had have been an all-in brawl, you would have known why. It would have been Clarko’s fault.
“This was a coach understanding his players and knowing if you hit them where it hurts, right at the heart and the personal and emotional side of them, they’ll do anything when they need to.
“That’s how you can get the best out of them.”
Kane Cornes recalled the early moments of that Grand Final, including a big Jarryd Roughead hit on Dan Hannebery late in the opening term.
“I so vividly remember that 2014 Grand Final,” Cornes said.
“For you to execute it fairly, it could have gone over the top and it could have been an all-in brawl, with the Roughead on Hannebery tackle and the aggression you showed.
“It was a credit to your group to be able to take that motivation, those instructions and execute it fairly.
“They were so rattled in the first five minutes of that game.”
After a hot start, the Hawks took control as the opening term progressed, eventually finding a 20-point lead by the first break on their way to a dominant 63-point triumph.
It was the third of Hodge’s four premierships and his second Norm Smith Medal.