ROSS Lyon says last year's Grand Final defeat to Hawthorn will not be a factor in Fremantle's preparation for Friday night's blockbuster with the reigning premiers.
Following a comfortable 48-point win over Gold Coast in very wet conditions at Patersons Stadium, attention quickly turned to next Friday's Grand Final replay at the MCG.
Lyon believes last year's result will have no influence on Fremantle's preparation this week.
"There's no emotion for us," Lyon said.
"It's done and dusted. I don't live in the past. They've got a nice shiny cup and we haven't got much. We've moved on.
"If you get stuck on the past with anything in life, let alone footy, you can lose your way pretty quickly. So we're focussed on the road ahead not the road behind.
"We acknowledge they're still the benchmark of the competition."
The Dockers will be battered and bruised despite the ease of the win over the Suns. It was the first time it had rained heavily in Perth this year and it made for a physical encounter.
"They got banged around a bit," Lyon said.
"It was quite treacherous, slippery.
"It's a short week anyway. The Hawks Friday night have got a day on us. But that happens a fair bit in league football. We're not that fussed.
"We'll have one decent session. Up until then we'll just move them around and free them up.
Lyon was delighted with the work ethic of his midfield in the wet, led by an imposing display from Aaron Sandilands.
"I don't take it for granted, they like the wet," Lyon said.
"They worked incredibly hard.
"Our first possession was strong, but you double handball and you slip and you get stripped.
"Sometimes it's harder to capitalise and it's easier to make it a dogfight in there. You're not going to waltz out clean too many times.
"But I thought we had some terrific centre square clearances."
Lyon was wary of over-playing Sandilands' influence despite the fact his star ruckman had a career-high 58 hit outs and was a major factor for the Dockers throughout the night.
"He's playing pretty good footy," Lyon said.
"But one swallow doesn't make a summer. It's round two. There's plenty of hurdles to jump and plenty of work to be done. Nothing has been achieved yet. Aaron's just an important part of the team."
