Fremantle captain Matthew Pavlich convinced team has the self-belief in win Matthew Pavlich says Fremantle can beat Hawthorn. DYNAMIC Fremantle captain Matthew Pavlich is convinced his Dockers have a powerful self-belief to win an historic premiership over Hawthorn at the MCG on Saturday. The long serving powerhouse forward and inspirational leader takes his Dockers into a first ever grand final after 19 years in the AFL and against the season-long favourites. But Pavlich revealed game style and day-to-day football operations and planning under highly regarded head coach Ross Lyon has more than prepared the Dockers for the landmark showdown for the AFL's ultimate prize. The Dockers have retained an admirable cool and calculating composure after a club-record home-and-away 16 wins and a draw for a third-place finish and then against-the-odds first up finals win over a more fancied Geelong at Geelong before a brutal defensive execution and victory over reigning champions Sydney to qualify for the title play-off. Fremantle turned in a ruthless preliminary final destruction of the Swans with a first-half defensive obliteration that prompted game analysts to declare the Dockers first half as the most efficient and stifling of the season from any outfit. By half-time the Dockers had penetrated their forward 50m arc 28 times to the talented Swans just 13 and at the height of the home side's first-half obliteration Sydney had just one possession in their forward 50 at the 27-minute mark of the second term. Pavlich and best-afield David Mundy were moved to agree that the Dockers second quarter was the finest half-hour of their season as the league's tightest defensive outfit conceding just 69 points on average a game on the way to their momentous premiership showdown. Power ... David Mundy leads a formidable midfield unit. "The way the guys went about it in the first half meant that that there was a real sense of belief," Pavlich disclosed. That's the way we have gone about what this group can achieve. Pavlich is the longest serving current player not to have played in a grand final and will head into the biggest occasion of his glittering career against the Hawks in his 291st game. His imposing forward line presence is highly likely to emerge Fremantle's most important player against the star studded Hawks and the hot favourites" awesome goal-scoring potency from proven big game stars Lance Franklin, Jarryd Roughead and Cyril Rioli. The big skipper was quick to pounce on any prospects of over exuberance in the Dockers camp ahead of their date with premiership destiny. "We know that everyone around us will be really happy and pleased," he elaborated. But there's still plenty of work to be done in our preparation for this Saturday. Song ... Dockers players celebrate their preliminary final win. Pavlich, 31, declared that a sustained finals presence and serious premiership shot has been building around his troops for more than just the past two seasons of great expectation under the disciplined Lyon mandate. Pavlich though conceded that he has not detected such a driven hunger for success in the league's newest potential power. "What I do know is that this group is really driven and hungry," he said. The group has matured over the past three or four years that the younger players that we all know. The six times Dockers fairest-and-best winner confessed that at times he had wondered if a grand final engagement might pass him by through a rocky existence at Fremantle since he was recruited from South Australia as the fourth pick overall at the national draft almost 14 years ago. But the Dockers greatest ever player never gave up hope at a cherished shot at premiership glory. "I think that's what keeps you driven outside the greater purpose that we all talk about," Pavlich said. It's the opportunity to create something for this footy club and create it with a bunch of guys that I'm really proud to work with. Pavlich has won six All-Australian selections through his decorated career that includes 580 goals at an average of two an outing and now declares all his hardships and faith in Fremantle's plans for success are worth his long wait. He missed three months of this season with after surgery in April to a serious Achilles tendon injury, the first time in his accomplished playing days that the big forward was forced to miss any sustained spell of Dockers action. "What you do know is that you realise all the hard yards, all the running around and all the sacrifices that you make, all the sacrifices that your family makes to get and opportunity, now it's all worth it," Pavlich confessed. But I think it's nice reward to at least get the opportunity for next week.