HAWTHORN will devise a plan to combat Fremantle tagger Ryan Crowley this week, Shaun Burgoyne says.
After claiming many victims during the home and away season, Crowley has curbed the influence of Geelong forward Steve Johnson and Sydney Swans midfielder Kieren Jack this finals series.
Johnson was calmed after quarter-time in the Dockers' winning qualifying final while Jack was kept to 11 possessions in their preliminary final victory.
With Crowley expected to take Brownlow Medal fancy Sam Mitchell in Saturday's Grand Final, Burgoyne said it would be up to the rest of the team to help their former skipper break the shackles.
"Mitch has been tagged probably his entire career and it's nothing new to him; he knows exactly what to do and what to expect," Burgoyne said on Monday.
"When we've had players tagged this year, as a team we've tried to help out that player so we'll do exactly the same this week if he goes to him.
"Myself, Hodgey, Isaac Smith, Cyril … we'll definitely help out that player.
"It's going to take 22 players to win this week and we need the player who's getting tagged to have an influence on the game so we'll definitely go out of our way to help out whoever [he goes to]."
Crowley is also renowned for his on-field chatter and antagonistic ways, which got the better of both Johnson and Jack at times during their corresponding finals.
Burgoyne said the Hawks would pay no attention to the tagger's tactics and were confident Mitchell would prevail in the predicted one-on-one battle.
"That's just [Crowley's] game. He's made a career of tagging players and he's been very good at it," he said.
"You can't get stuck into those mind games with trash talking and niggling.
"Mitch is pretty accustomed to those tactics, he's been tagged his entire career so I have no doubt he'll deal with it very well if it comes his way.
"It's just up to us guys to help him out and I have no doubt he'll have an influence on our game as well."
Burgoyne said the Hawks would plan this week for how they would set up at stoppages against giant Freo ruckman Aaron Sandilands, and ensure their own big men would approach each contest positively.
He also acknowledged the Dockers' incredible pressure and forward-half tackling, which stifled the Swans on Saturday night.
But he said he believed the Hawks had the mechanisms to work through it.
"We're very good users of the ball but we're going to have to make them work both ways, use our skills, run hard," he said.
"We've got some fantastic runners in our team who can break open those lines and break through that bubble.
"We're very confident that the structures and the style we want to play will set us up very well for the match.
"We've also got some outstanding tackling players and players who put on defensive pressure themselves to put the pressure back on Freo when they have the ball."
