West Coast's smack in the gob has ensured Hawthorn are not distracted by the elephant in the room ahead of the AFL grand final.
If the Hawks win Saturday's premiership decider at the MCG, they will be only the fifth club to win three flags in a row.
The last team to achieve this feat was Brisbane in 2001-03.
Hawks coach Alastair Clarkson calls it an elephant in the room and there was some discussion at the club four or five weeks ago when media started raising it as a topic.
But everything changed for Hawthorn when West Coast beat them on September 11 in their qualifying final.
Not only did it mean the Hawks would have to forge a tough path to reach the grand final, they were badly shown up in the Perth match.
They weren't the unsociable Hawks that night - they were just on the nose.
Strong finals wins against Adelaide and Fremantle have returned the reigning premiers to an even keel.
They are on the verge of becoming the first team since 2006 - West Coast's most recent premiership - to play in four finals and win the flag.
"The harsh reality is, we got smacked right in the gob in the first final," Clarkson said.
"Anything that happens in terms of the history of this particular era or whatever, it means nothing unless you focus on the here-and-now and what's important.
"That here-and-now is this West Coast opposition, who have taken all before them over the course of the year.
"It's going to be a cracking grand final - two really good sides."
Clarkson added that the qualifying final proved the Eagles were legitimate premiership contenders.
After a week off, West Coast recovered from an indifferent start to beat North Melbourne in their preliminary final.
It is a remarkable effort from the Eagles in only Adam Simpson's second season as senior coach.
"We got a fair wake-up call that this opponent we're playing tomorrow is a serious, serious competitor for the silverware this year," Clarkson added.
"We know we need to bring our best.
"The most stark and easiest manner of summing up the qualifying loss is that the realisation that if we don't play somewhere near our best footy, we're going to be bridesmaids.
"We need to be real fierce in the contest and at different stages that wasn't the case when we played them two or three weeks ago."
It could be a record high temperature of 30-plus, which on paper should suit the Eagles.
But Simpson said it would be irrelevant.
The Eagles coach was a two-time North Melbourne premiership player in the 1990s.
But it is more recent experience that has helped him more in preparing for this grand final.
"The experiences I had at Hawthorn are the ones I'm drawing on," said Clarkson's former assistant coach.
After Friday's grand final parade, the Eagles had a light run on the MCG.
Simpson said earlier this week that West Coast had looked at the brutal start to last year's grand final, when Hawthorn monstered Sydney and killed off the contest.
"It was probably a little bit of talk about how we defend, attacks, how Hawthorn defend," Simpson said.
"Looking at the game last year, it was about the contest, wasn't it.
"It's easy to say and I've been saying it all week.
"So we have to deliver that, because I know Hawthorn will."
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