Shane Crawford’s big Prelim declaration

Hawthorn great Shane Crawford thinks his old club is finally ready to play in their first AFL Grand Final since 2015.

The Hawks face the Brisbane Lions in a huge MCG Preliminary Final on Saturday twilight, with the winner set to face the victor of Friday’s other Prelim at the SCG between Fremantle and Sydney in this year’s decider.

Hawthorn booked their spot in the Prelim with an upset Qualifying Final victory over the minor premier Dockers in Perth, and that performance has filled Crawford with enough confidence to declare his club ‘ready’.

While the Hawks are coming up against a formidable opponent in the Lions, who are still well and truly in the hunt for a three-peat, Crawford is tipping the MCG factor and rested legs of the Hawks to get over the line come Saturday.

“I do feel like Hawthorn are ready,” Crawford told SEN Breakfast.

“The MCG is a huge factor, but they’ll have to improve a lot since the last time they played the Lions.

“I think they’ll have to be harder at the footy. They needed to be harder, and they brought that against Fremantle. I think they’re hard workers.

“Hopefully Brisbane are a bit tired, but I’m very scared of Brisbane. So I’m picking Hawthorn.

“And I think Fremantle will get it done against the Swans. I could not believe what I saw (with Sydney in the Qualifying Final), and I’d love to see it again, but I think Fremantle will get their mojo going.

“So I’ve got a Hawthorn v Fremantle Grand Final… and it might be (the year of the Hawk), but I don’t want to get too ahead of myself.”

Fremantle faced Hawthorn in their only AFL Grand Final to date, which came in 2013. The Hawks won that day en route to their own three-peat of flags stretching from 2013 to 2015.

You can listen to both AFL Preliminary Finals LIVE on SEN and the SEN app this Friday night and Saturday evening respectively.