Mitchell to crack the whip after insipid Hawks display
It’s fair to say Hawthorn players will have mouthguards in at training this week after a furious Sam Mitchell took them to task following an insipid 53-point loss to Gold Coast on Saturday night.
The Hawthorn coach threatened a brutal training block before the clash against North Melbourne next Sunday after a below-par display against the Suns that he said was “as bad as we’ve played in a long time”.
“We’ve had a couple of six-day breaks so our training has been a bit on the lighter side but I think we’re probably going to have to ramp a few things up,” Mitchell said.
“If we … get a corky or something like that we’ll probably have to accept that because we can’t play with the physicality we did tonight and expect to be competitive.”
Following a stirring comeback against Collingwood a week earlier that almost earnt the club its first winy of the year, the Hawks gave up all their goodwill when beaten in every facet by the Suns.
The midfield was outclassed and the makeshift forward line, this time spearheaded by three goals from Finn Maginness, failed to fire a shot until the match was well beyond reach in the fourth quarter.
Mitchell appeared to question the commitment and professionalism of his players and refused to use the club’s long list of injuries as an excuse for the performance. “We had a chat with the players around the standard that we hold ourselves to – our training, how many extras we do, how much time we’re putting in, how much tape we’re watching,” he said.
“I don’t know how many players would say they’re in good form for us at the moment.
“We can’t play AFL football against aspiring finals teams and cough up the ball the way we did, lose contests the way we did. You’re just not going to be able to compete against anyone the way we played tonight and that’s just a completely unacceptable way to play. We should be past games like that.
“I’d love to tell you that injuries made a huge difference but I don’t think it would have mattered if we had every single player available.”
The Hawks had a paltry 119 disposals to halftime and finished with just 270 for the match.
Gold Coast’s run and spread from the contest put the flat-footed Hawks to shame and yet the Suns still out-tackled the visitors by plus 17.
Second-game Sun Will Graham had more tackles (14) alone than the entire Hawks midfield.
Mitchell struggled to pull any positives from the performance.
“I’m enormously disappointed,” he said.
“We lost every aspect of the game … there wasn’t a single aspect of that game that went in our favour.
“It wasn’t a night for perfect footy and we refused to embrace the contest.”