Hyde immediately dismissed that the award will be a distraction in the lead up to the decider.

“While you need to recognise individuals and individual awards, it’s probably something that doesn’t necessarily sit that well with me given I play a team sport,” Hyde said.

“Once upon a time I had to eat this and do that, but that Saturday morning routine is thrown out the window, so I don’t think it will be a distraction.

“It’s a pretty standard build-up, you’ve obviously got to embrace a few of things that need to happen like this (Morris Medal), but pretty much it’s a slow build up.”

Hyde admits Wangaratta will offer a completely different challenge to Lavington and Yarrawonga in their previous grand final encounters.

“Wang are playing some really good footy and they’ve got some young guys that have come back from the Bushies,” he said.

“Watching them on the weekend, they’re certainly up and about, so we need to play our best footy on Saturday if we want to get the result we’re after.

“They had a few different things that worked in the final we played against them.

“We’ll take the good things out of it and have a look at the areas for improvement, but come Saturday, two weeks ago doesn’t really count for too much.”

Hyde believes having plenty of young talent at the club this season has been a telling factor. 

“The younger guys are pushing you up and making you earn your spot,” he said.

“I think you always take a bit more responsibility as an older player because those young guys look to you at different stages, whether it be at training on a cold, wet, windy night or in a game when it’s really tight are they’re looking to see how you’re responding.”