IT ALMOST wouldn't be a Grand Final week for Hawthorn without a big decision to make on the selection of a player racing against time to be fit to play.

Ahead of Saturday's clash with West Coast, it is Jack Gunston who has been the primary focus of the Hawthorn medical and fitness staff.

In 2008 it was Shane Crawford; in 2013 it was Max Bailey and last year it was Cyril Rioli, with the Hawks revealing to the AFL Record how perilously close the brilliant Rioli was to missing last year's belting of the Sydney Swans. 

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Hawthorn's fitness coach Andrew Russell said in an interview earlier this year that the Hawks were perilously close to putting a line through Rioli the Sunday before the Grand Final, when he failed to impress through the first half of Box Hill's VFL Grand Final against Footscray.

It was Rioli's first game back for 10 weeks after a serious hamstring tear. Racked by self-doubt, Rioli failed to make an impact while playing as a permanent half-forward. Come half-time of the VFL game at Etihad Stadium, the medicos were getting close to pulling the pin on Rioli for the season.

"I wasn't happy with what he put out there," Russell recalled. "I had no confidence he could play for Hawthorn in the Grand Final if he didn't lift his intensity levels." 

Hawks coach Alastair Clarkson was watching from a corporate box and issued an instruction to the fitness staff and Box Hill coaches for Rioli to start the third quarter in the centre of the ground, effectively forcing him to run some more.

"We put it on him a bit," said Russell, who visited the Box Hill rooms at half-time to give Rioli an update.

Rioli didn't dominate the third term, but he got to more contests, had an impact and started to feel fatigued enough for it to count. He showed glimpses of his manic pressure, won a few touches and did just enough to convince the Hawks he was ready to play the next week against the Swans.

Rioli spent the final quarter on the bench – the Hawks didn't want to over-play him –a controversial move given the short-handed Box Hill was over-run by the Bulldogs. 

But the VFL Grand Final had served its purpose as a high-pressure fitness test. Rioli trained brilliantly leading up the Grand Final, slam-dunked a basketball in the club gym the day before the game, just to allay any fears. He had only nine possessions and two tackles in the main game, but certainly made an impact.

Russell said getting Rioli over the line last year gave him the most satisfaction. "There was a real sense of achievement when we got him to the line, preparing him mentally as much as physically. It was risk versus reward."