"Our fitness staff and Dustin have done a wonderful job of a pretty significant corky, with bleeding down into his knee, that takes a bit of time to settle. It has settled now ... he will be available to play on Friday." Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video Hardwick said the knee had not needed to be drained "because there wasn't enough blood in the knee to actually do that". Asked if he was worried the Magpies would target the injury, Hardwick replied: "Good luck". "He knows how to go about it. He knows what makes his best performance ... Dustin plays a competitive, wrecking-ball type game anyway. He will take the game head on. We have a lot of players around him that will take the load as well," he said.

Hardwick said premiership small forward Dan Butler was in contention for a recall, having been "best on ground" at training in recent days. However, he posed a dilemma, for he has barely played in two months. Butler was last seen in a senior match in round 16 because of an ankle problem, and the Tigers will need to weigh up whether he can quickly adjust to the speed of a intense final. "He has put his hand up to play. He has obviously done a lot more work than the other players because he hasn't played in such a long time," Hardwick said. "He has played a half in seven or eight weeks so it's one of those dilemmas as a coach, you have got a guy that is probably in your best 22 but hasn't played a lot football so, which way do we go?" The Tigers have prevailed twice over the Pies this season, by 28 points in round 19 and 43 in round six. However, the Pies trailed by only four points at three-quarter time in round 19 but could only muster one goal from there, while in round six they trailed by 11 points at the final change, only for the Tigers to storm home with eight goals. The Pies were hampered by injuries in both games, losing Jeremy Howe and Matthew Scharenberg in round 19, so this time will hope they are not restricted on the interchange.

Hardwick said the Tigers took confidence from their strong last terms, as they seek to extend their record winning streak at the MCG to 23. "We do but the fact of the matter is, we are both very much system-based sides. There is, obviously, talent within those sides that implement and play well but we are really confident that our system versus their system stands up and they will be the same," he said. "They have had a couple of injuries in a couple of those games but we look at our KPI indicators and they were very strong in both of those games." The Tigers will need ruckman Toby Nankervis to at least partially negate All-Australian counterpart Brodie Grundy, whom Hardwick rates as the best in the business. Grundy's ability to dominate at stoppages and then follow up around the ground has meant he has become a formidable figure. However, Nankervis, a key in the Tigers rise last season, has also had a strong season. Playing a lone role as a specialist ruck, with the Tigers opting to have an undersized Shaun Grigg, Jack Riewoldt and even Daniel Rioli to help out, Nankervis has logged 83 per cent game time. His importance is underlined in that the Tigers are +455 points when he is on the ground compared to +71 when he is off.

"He has a big job every week, Toby, doesn't he? Every time we ask more of him, he delivers. That's the sort of player he is," Hardwick said. "He always comes back well after a spell. He has been shouldering the ruck all year. He is going up against probably what I feel is the best ruckman in the game in Brodie Grundy but our guy is not far behind him, I can guarantee you, and our blokes love playing with him. He will certainly lead from the front."