RORY Laird insists Adelaide will embrace Hawthorn's 'unsociable' brand of football if the reigning premier brings it to Friday night's semi final. 

While the Hawks are widely regarded as the league's most skilful team, they've also developed a reputation as one of the roughest.

In the two sides' last meeting at Adelaide Oval in round 12, both Eddie Betts and Charlie Cameron were felled by off-the-ball incidents. 

All Australian nominee Laird said his teammates wouldn't be afraid of the Hawks if they tried the same tactic again.

"If they come out and do that, then good on 'em, we'll embrace that," he said.

"It's finals, a do-or-die situation for them and for us ... you want to be rough but you want to be smart with how you do it." 

Given Laird's nomination for the AFL Players Association Robert Rose Award as the competition's most courageous player, you wouldn't expect him to frighten easily.

The small defender has been in stunning form all season, averaging more than 24 disposals at 80 per cent efficiency. 

Despite standing at 178cm, Laird never shirks a contest and continually puts his body on the line. 

As with his selection in the All Australian squad, he said the Robert Rose Award nomination was a feather in his cap.

But he stressed he had more important things on his mind.

"It's nice to get recognised, especially by my peers; I think that's a nice confidence booster for me that players that I play with each week think that of me," he said.

"It's just good reinforcement that I'm playing my role each week and maybe doing a bit more, which is good.

"I'm way more concentrated on winning finals."

Although the Crows have pushed Hawthorn to the brink throughout their past four encounters, they haven't beaten the reigning premiers since round one, 2011.

However, Laird believed his side has what it takes to snap the losing streak and progress to a preliminary final.

"We've said a couple of times – why not us? We've come this far, I think we're playing some really good footy against some top teams," he said.

"We're full of confidence and ready to play this week."