Hawthorn livewire Nick Watson has found an unlikely ally after his game suffered following a cheeky halftime interview.
After five-straight defeats to the Hawks, the Western Bulldogs finally got one back on their nemesis when they recorded a stirring come-from-behind win last Friday night.
Watson was a central figure in proceedings, engaging in a must-watch battle with Bulldogs stopper Michael Sellwood.
After a stunning three-goal burst early in the game to get the better of Sellwood, Watson was restricted to just two possessions in the second-half.
When walking off the field at halftime, the 21-year-old had some pointed comments for his opponent: "I don't care if he (Sellwood) talks, as long as he walks the walk. I'd love to see it in the second half."
Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge praised Sellwood and fellow Bulldogs scrapper Will Lewis, but also defended Watson, one of the most exciting players in the AFL.
"I have heard (Watson's comments) and I think it was pretty innocent, too," Beveridge said.
"I'd hate to think that as the weeks go on that he is reminded of that because I think it was quite an innocent sort of throwaway line.
"It's been compounded and meant something a bit different because of how lively he is and how cheeky he is.
"I'm sure he doesn't back away from it, but I didn't think it was over the top, so even if I knew about it (at halftime), I wouldn't have used it."
Hawthorn captain James Sicily also came under scrutiny for losing his cool against the Bulldogs after Lewis baited the star defender.
Beveridge was an assistant coach at the Hawks during Sicily's first season in the AFL.
"James is built that way; he's an ultra competitor, super nice guy off the field, but he gets white line fever," Beveridge said.
"He's such a ripping character, you love having someone like that in your team who just gets white line fever.
"We thought 'Lewy' held up pretty well, he was pretty disciplined.
"There was obviously some spot fires, but both of them (Sellwood and Sicily) were asked to do a job for the team, and we were pretty content that they did."
Beveridge was thrilled the blue-collar role players Sellwood and Lewis were complementing smooth-moving stars like Marcus Bontempelli and Ed Richards.
"Right across Australia, there are diamonds in the rough somewhere," he said.
"It's really challenging for recruiting departments who may even be under-resourced to cover the territory, to be inquisitive, to ensure that they're across the whole of Australia.
"We're fortunate they give us a little bit of spice.
"Every team needs that confrontational cohort and those two definitely don't back away from the contest and the adversarial nature of our game."
