Rough and tumble country boy Luke Hodge will play and play hard in this Saturday's showdown with Geelong, according to Hawthorn team-mate Trent Croad.
Hodge, who was coughing up blood after copping a pair of big hits in the preliminary final win over St Kilda on Saturday night, braved the icy Melbourne water at Brighton on Monday with team-mates.
He waded in the windswept water with a grin, particularly when enthusiastic fringe player Jarryd Morton performed a triple backward somersault with pike off Brighton pier.
Croad, who fronted the media before joining the recovery session, declared Hodge a certain starter.
"Luke will definitely play. That's just a normal day in the life of Luke," he said of Saturday night's bruising encounted.
"He's a tough Colac boy and he tells me the Colac boys don't feel pain."
"He'll be fine, it's the way he plays his football, it's the way he contributes to the team."
Hodge is supposedly battling a rib complaint but won't wear a guard or need protection from the expected physical attention he'll come in for, Croad said.
"Hodgey can hold his own."
"There will be no problem with Hodgey at all. That's just the way he plays his footy."
"We've seen him do it many times throughout the year."
"It's just a common week for Hodgey to be bashing and crashing into packs."
"As far as he's concerned there's nothing different to what he has been doing."
Croad himself has been hampered by a foot injury in the closing stages of the season but, like Hodge, will be at the heart of Hawthorn's bid for a first premiership since 1991.
"I pulled up a little bit sore, as I was going to after the game," Croad admitted.
"I am doing all the right things possible."
"It's still early, it's still Monday. I'm about to get into that freezing cold water and get it right."
"I'm well on top of it. I can play through a game like I did on the weekend."
"It's really of no concern at the moment."
"Finals football, all the little niggles and pain seems to go away, that's for sure."
Croad said the week would be about refreshing bodies after a taxing home and away season and two gruelling finals.
"I think from a physical point of view you're not going to get any fitter in a week."
"The older blokes, like me and Dewy (Stuart Dew), we get the bodies nice and fresh and try and go into a grand final."
"We'll be doing all those little things, like walking in your ocean and massage and all the things that make you feel good."