Historic knight of the willow (hard as nails?) (7)

I believe the answer is:

bradman

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'historic knight' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.

I don't understand the rest of the clue.

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(Other definitions for bradman that I've seen before include "Sporting legend" , "Batsman" , "Sir Donald -, Australian test cricketer" , "Don -, Aus. Test cricketer" , "34 [CRICKETER]" .)

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