'I had a tear in my eye this morning' - Warner

David Warner admitted he struggled for composure in the Australian dressing room mere minutes before the start of the fourth Test at the SCG, as a pre-match tribute to Phillip Hughes brought back all the memories of his team-mate's fatal injury at this ground six weeks ago.

Accompanied by Chris Rogers in an opening stand of 200, Warner reached his third century of the series. He marked his attainment of Hughes' final score, 63 not out, by kissing the spot on the ground where he fell. After Australia reached stumps at a commanding 2 for 348, Warner said he would repeat the gesture whenever he returned to the ground.

"It's always going to be in the back of my mind and I'm always going to remember my little mate," Warner said. "I thought it through my head to pay tribute to my mate and how to do that was how I did that today. Every time I play here I'll definitely be doing that.

"I was quite emotional at the singing of the anthems. The little tribute there beforehand put those memories back in place, seeing that little smile up on the board before going out there and singing the national anthem was quite hard. I had a minute to myself when I came off before we went onto the field of play at the beginning of the day and I had my head in the towel.

"I had to dig deep and go out there and bat the way I know I can and try to clear my mind. It was tough but I got back out there on the horse as we should be. Putting up a double-century partnership today with Bucky, our first one, we bat very well together, and I think that was probably the highlight of today for me."

There are plenty of reminders of Hughes at the SCG this week, from the newly unveiled plaque at the home dressing room door to the presence of his family, who did not attend the Adelaide Test but have come to Sydney as they often did to see their son play.

"I had a tear in my eye this morning when I walked out to warm-up and I saw Greg in the stands and Megs," Warner said. "It's fantastic for them to be here. The hurt and the pain they've gone through and how much it would have hurt them to come back today. It's just courageous for them to be here and I applaud them for making the effort to come down, it's fantastic."

Warner's 12th Test hundred provided another reminder of how far he has evolved since his international debut as a Twenty20 slugger against South Africa at the MCG in January 2009. Enough time has passed for Warner now to be advising younger men in the dressing room of how much Test cricket should be cherished.

"It's been an amazing journey so far," Warner said. "My early days in one day cricket as well I really wasn't comfortable, I didn't know how to go about it. But I was talking to Joe Burns today about being here and not playing in the BBL how much better it is, in the sense that you get to relax and you're just in one mode.

"I find that with Test cricket and one-day cricket it's about being comfortable in how to go about your innings, you have time to build. You do in T20 cricket, probably one over, but in Tests and one dayers you've got a lot more time than you think. It's been great so far, hopefully a long way to go."

The time remaining in the Test match will now be used by the captain Steven Smith and the No. 3 Shane Watson to further build Australia's advantage. Watson was shelled by R Ashwin at slip in the final over of the day, and Warner hoped this stroke of luck would allow him to go on to a major score.

"I really hope it does," Warner said. "He's trained the house down the last couple of days, unfortunate he was sick, but the amount of time and effort he puts into training is unbelievable. He really deserves a big one, to come out tomorrow hopefully he does get that big one, he and Smithy are doing a great job, hopefully they can both go on and put us in a position to win the game."