The Essendon defender was driving to the MCG to face Carlton in last year's elimination final when one of his mates from Perth called with bad news.

Hardingham's friend and former teammate, Kyle Thomas, was rushed to hospital the day before after an on-field collision in a local Grand Final. On his way to his own final, Hardingham found out Thomas had been put on life support and wasn't expected to survive. Understandably, he was rattled.

Moments earlier he had been thinking about how he was going to attack the day, play tight on his man, and create as much play as he could from the Bombers' backline.

""The call changed my mindset a fair bit,"" Hardingham told essendonfc.com.au this week.

The first thing Hardingham did when he arrived at the ground was speak to the club's chaplin, Allan Dunn. Dunn offered some comforting words, and after that Hardingham met with the coaches. They, too, had Hardingham's welfare at the forefront of their mind.

""You go from thinking about the game to thinking about doing well for different reasons,"" Hardingham said.

""You want to play well for your friend and put it all on the line for him.

""The best thing was that the coaches sat me down and asked me if I wanted to play and whether I was fine to play, and I said there was nothing that I wanted to do more.""

Hardingham wrote Thomas' name on his arm when he took the field, but it was unable to inspire the Bombers, who lost by 62 points and were bundled out of the finals.

Tragically, Thomas lost his fight the day after the game and died. Hardingham was unable to make the funeral back in Western Australia, but says the events reinforced the attitude he should take into any situation.