HAWTHORN star Nick Watson will be ready to take on Fremantle in a blockbuster qualifying final at Optus Stadium, with coach Sam Mitchell pleased that his game-breaking goalkicker was able to be managed late in Sunday's win against West Coast.  

Watson played limited minutes in the third quarter in Perth and was then benched for the entire final term after appearing to hurt his hand when he was shoved into the boundary fence by Eagles wingman Bo Allan just before three-quarter time. 

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Mitchell said there was no injury concern for Watson, who was prioritised for a rest after booting three goals and taking a stunning Mark of the Year contender in a brilliant performance. 

"He's fine. He's not injured, we just managed him out of the game (and) he'll play against Freo. If that's all you're worried about, he'll be there," Mitchell said on Sunday night. 

"We actually wanted to try 'Weds' (Josh Weddle) in the front half a little bit more, and I had a chat with [high performance manager] Peter Burge, and I said if anyone needed a spell, who would it be? And he said 'Wiz'. 

"He wasn't too happy to be taken out of the game, but it was important that we got to manage our important players, and he probably wrestled half the game tonight. 

"He was getting some pretty tight attention, but he handled it really well and pleased he was able to freshen up a little bit late."

Mitchell said securing a percentage-boosting win to potentially jump into third place on the ladder had not been a focus on Sunday, and his team had simply needed to play better football after a draw against Collingwood and heavy defeat to Brisbane in its past two games. 

The Hawks will return to Optus Stadium in less than two weeks confident their best football can beat Fremantle in a qualifying final, Mitchell said, after losing to the ladder leader by 15 points earlier this season. 

"They've been a great team for the for the whole season, and they deserve to have a home final, but a home final doesn't make a win," Mitchell said. 

"So it's our challenge to come here and get the job done. Having played here twice this season, does that help us? Well, it certainly doesn't hurt, I guess. 

"Does it give us a significant advantage? Of course not. It's still their home ground, but we'll go into the game confident that our best will get it done."

Asked if the Hawks would train for 'Wharfie Time', which was used for the only time this season when the teams met in round nine, Mitchell said: "We prepare for every environment that we play in, and we're obviously going to be in a hostile environment filled with purple, so we'll be ready for that."

Mitchell said the Hawks could still turn to a two-ruck structure against the Dockers after supporting No.1 big man Lloyd Meek on Sunday with a combination of Mabior Chol and Weddle. 

He praised the performance of mid-season recruit Max Beattie, who was clean and lively in attack with two goals, including a terrific 45m snap in his second AFL game. 

"He looked quite dangerous, didn't he? He had a few shots on goal, and his running power is significant," Mitchell said.  

"I think he's quickly become a player for us. 

"We'll probably have a couple of players back and a bit of selection headache. Every team that finishes in the top four is wanting selection headaches, and we're certainly going to have those in a couple of weeks."

West Coast coach Andrew McQualter said his team didn't adapt to the wet conditions as well as Hawthorn, ending its season with an 11th consecutive loss.

Improving their fundamentals will be a major focus of the looming pre-season, with the coach challenging his team to do the work required to take another step forward in 2027. 

"I just spoke to the group then about that, that we get to make choices for the next 14 weeks before we begin pre-season again about how much we want to get better and improve," McQualter said.  

"And that's me as a coach, our coaching group, our staff and our players.

"I've got an enormous amount of belief in this group that they're up for the fight and willing to do the work. 

"We've got to get that balance right to make sure they get a bit of a spell, (but) we're just not happy with where we are at, which is expected. These guys will work."

McQualter said the Eagles would be an active team in the trade period and would "work every angle" to improve their list over the off-season. 

The coach was confident there had been improvement in a four-win season and a core of talented young players had been assembled to compete in 2027. 

"We've deliberately gone backwards to go forward with how we've done this build," he said. 

"We didn't have anywhere near the list of what premiership team lists look like. 

"We've been able to bring in a huge amount of the right types and level of player, and now we've got to get to work and develop and help these guys become what we expect them to become."