There's plenty of myths in AFL football. But one of the biggest is that the grand final is "just another game". It's not. And if anyone insists it is, just direct them to a replay of the 2015 premiership play-off.

There can't have been too many, if any grand finals, that have underlined the value of experience on the big occasion as much as Hawthorn's 46-point triumph over West Coast on Saturday. And indeed, simultaneously, the dangers of inexperience.

It's been well documented that the 2015 Hawthorn grand final line-up is the oldest premiership team in football history.

What hasn't been touched upon is that the link between older, more experienced sides and the capacity to deliver best possible performance on an occasion not only physically but psychologically taxing, has over the past few years become stronger than ever.

And funnily enough, the turning point appears to have been Collingwood's 2010 premiership line-up. The Magpies had an average age of only a tick over 24 years when they famously beat St Kilda on the second attempt five years ago, fractionally younger even than Essendon's famous "Baby Bombers" of 1993.

As much as football clubs are prone to following fashion, that, however, certainly wasn't the start of a swing towards younger teams come the pointy end of the season. In fact, quite the reverse.

A string of premiers prior to Collingwood had an average age of 25. But since the Pies' win, the pendulum has swung very much in the other direction.

Geelong in 2011 had an average age well over 27. Sydney the following year and Hawthorn in 2013-14 were closer to an average of 27 than 26. And this year's model has an average across the 22 of 27 years and 304 days, close enough to 28.

With age comes experience, and it was the "games played" column, specifically big games played, where lay the biggest gap between Hawthorn and West Coast on Saturday.

The Hawks' 22 averaged 166.8 games per player. For the Eagles, it was 112.7. Heading into Saturday, the Hawks collectively had appeared in 63 grand finals. West Coast's tally was seven, shared among three players. And that yawning gap told.

When Hawthorn put Sydney to the sword last year, it was a direct result of ferocious pressure from the Hawks the likes of which grand finals have rarely seen. This time, a grand final "newbie" overwhelmed by the stage made Hawthorn's task a lot easier.

West Coast made at least a dozen critical errors in just over a half of grand final football. While some were the result of Hawthorn's relentless pressure, many weren't.

Examples like Luke Shuey twice failing to give the ball off inside 50 to facilitate what would have been almost certain goals, the first time electing to go for home himself and missing, the second managing to pick out Taylor Duryea, the only Hawk among four Eagles between him and the goals.

Will Schofield and Sharrod Wellingham both missed targets under little pressure, the first costing West Coast a goal from the rebound, the second a golden opportunity to score one. And Jack Darling's dropped mark then fumble early in the third term at the only moment the Eagles looked half a chance was the most spectacular clanger of the grand final.

In contrast, all the players Hawthorn most needed to stand tall did so, and most of their best were their eldest statesmen. I listed eight players in the best for the Hawks in my grand final match report. Five of them – Sam Mitchell, Luke Hodge, Shaun Burgoyne, Brian Lake and Josh Gibson – were five of the oldest half-dozen players on the senior list.

It's been a recurring theme in each of these three grand final wins in a row. The 2013 Norm Smith Medal was won by Lake, with Hodge also polling votes. Last year, Hodge won his second Norm Smith. Three of the other four vote-getters were oldies in Mitchell, Jordan Lewis and Gibson.

On Saturday, six players were awarded Norm Smith votes. Mitchell, Hodge and Burgoyne were three of them, and the others, Cyril Rioli, James Frawley and Isaac Smith, at 26, 27 and 26 respectively, are hardly babies.

On the biggest football stage of all, cool heads and knowhow seem to be counting for more and more. And it's an advantage the Hawks are likely to hold for a while yet, with nearly all those players mentioned still playing as close to the best football of their careers.

That wasn't the case when Brisbane were the last "three-peaters", the Lions the walking wounded even when they won the last leg of their trifecta, their effort even to get back to a fourth grand final in 2004 phenomenal.

Hawthorn's four successive grand finals for three flags have in contrast seen them looking stronger year by year. And anyone over the next six months who forecasts the end of the premiership line for them now is doing so far more in hope than from logic.

Which is perhaps why, only hours after Saturday's triumph, Hawthorn fans still celebrating outside the MCG had already coined a new phrase for 2016, namely "Fourthorn". Sure, that's cocky. But the way these seasoned campaigners are travelling, how could you possibly blame them?

And while I'm at it...

If you're a West Coast fan old enough to remember the 1991 grand final, you'll recall that something else did happen at Waverley that afternoon besides the appearance of Angry Anderson on his infamous "Batmobile".

In fact, you may even be experiencing a bit of deja vu, because West Coast's defeat at the hands of Hawthorn back then was in important ways similar to Saturday's demise against the same opponent.

Like Saturday, the Eagles got on the board first. Indeed, in that one, they kicked the first four goals, not just one. But once the Hawthorn machine began to tick over, things started to look ominous for the interstate team.

Like Saturday, the more experienced Hawks did the right things at the right times. And like Saturday, some important West Coast players succumbed to the occasion.

Coleman medallist Josh Kennedy said after Saturday's loss that the "unbelievable" pressure from Hawthorn had derailed his team. But it was a stretch to claim that there weren't also some psychological demons at play.

When Adam Simpson and his coaching panel review their team's performance, they'll find as many mistakes made without too much discernible physical pressure as there were forced by the Hawks.

But even that fact has an upside to it. As do West Coast's prospects for 2016 generally. And Simpson could even use the example of the triumphant Hawks in that regard.

When Hawthorn blew the 2012 grand final against Sydney, a big factor was the poor performance of the likes of Isaac Smith, Matt Suckling, Paul Puopolo, all playing in their first grand final, and even Jarryd Roughead, who'd just made it two poor grand finals from two.

Roughead has certainly redressed that issue, a good performer in all three legs of the flag hat-trick. And Smith, who kicked a critical goal in the 2013 win, was also among the Hawks' best on Saturday. Merely going through the experience of preparing for and playing in a grand final has to be of considerable benefit the next time the opportunity rolls around. Which you'd think for the Eagles shouldn't be too far away.

It certainly wasn't for the 1991 version. They came back from that defeat a more hardened and street-smart team to win in 1992 and again in 1994. Players less than their best that day such as Dean Kemp and Ashley McIntosh bounced back to be good players in their two flags, Kemp good enough to win the 1994 Norm Smith Medal.

In 2016, West Coast will regain key defenders Eric Mackenzie and Mitch Brown, reducing the pressure on their defence and allowing the likes of Jeremy McGovern to be used with more flexibility.

But no less important will be the lessons learned from this game, and the burning disappointment that lingers from grand final defeat. Both are very powerful tools for coach Simpson to use over summer as he gets a head start on next football season.

The Last Word

The desperate

If you ever wanted an example of how determined Hawthorn were to let nothing stand in their way on Saturday, it had to be a moment with the game shot to ribbons, the Hawks 61 points up, and just 16 minutes left on the clock. Josh Hill loped in to casually boot a consolation prize for West Coast, only to have the oldest player on the ground, 33-year-old Brian Lake, fling himself across the goalsquare to get his fingertips to the kick. Had it happened in a tight finish, it would have been a moment for the ages. Perhaps, as a comment on the Hawks’ never-give-in ethos, it was anyway.

The curse

If North Melbourne lose another preliminary final next season, their conquerors should start worrying. You see, the Roos have become the ultimate grand final bad luck charm for whoever beat them to get there. West Coast’s demise on Saturday not only followed Sydney’s example from last year, but many more. Port Adelaide in 2007, Melbourne in 2000, St Kilda in 1997, Geelong in 1994, Essendon in 1983 and Collingwood in 1979 all lost grand finals after beating the Roos in the prelim. In fact, Carlton in 1995 is the only exception from the last nine occasions North have lost the season’s penultimate game.

The tradition

You could see football traditionalists everywhere almost holding back the tears of sentiment when Hawthorn ran out on Saturday wearing the old-fashioned white shorts for the “away’’ team. Not since 1978 had the Hawks taken the grand final field with the white "nicks", having also done so in 1976. Hawthorn beat North Melbourne on both occasions, so Saturday’s win completed another premiership hat-trick of sorts. Interestingly, though, when the same teams wore the same jumpers in the 1991 grand final, both wore the home shorts. Have we become that much more colour blind in just 24 years since?

The gurus

Bryan Adams ran to us, Chris Isaak gamed his wickedness, and Ellie Goulding … umm, yep. But if we are going to mine the past for grand final entertainment, can’t we at least make it Australian? Even the NRL managed to get Cold Chisel. So I’m putting in an early bid for the Hoodoo Gurus in 2016. Surely, "What’s My Scene?", "Like Wow, Wipeout" and "The Right Time" are perfect grand final fodder, aren’t they? And they’re actually still together. Come on Gil, I’ve seen you coming out of a Foo Fighters gig not all that long ago. Can you really have grown this old that quickly?