HAWTHORN utility Shaun Burgoyne says the playing group has the belief that when it plays its best footy, it can defeat any opponent.
The win over Sydney on Saturday thus comes at no shock to the Hawks, who overcame a 38-point deficit midways through the second term to ultimately defeat the Swans by 7 points.
Burgoyne says that part of the Club’s ability to be confident in its ability is the mixture of youth and experience and the maturity of the list.
“We’ve always been a confident group because we’ve got a list now that is pretty mature,” Burgoyne said.
“We’ve got some very stable heads at the top and we’ve got some young guys coming through who can make an impact.
“We’ve got very good belief within the group that when we play the way we want to play, we can beat anyone.”
The Hawks conceded the opening five goals of the match, and failed to register a major until the second term.
It is the third time the Hawks have been jumped in the opening term, with Geelong and Port Adelaide both building leads against the Hawks in the past month.
It is something the Hawks are working on, to ensure the Club’s slow starts aren’t a weekly occurrence.
“If we don’t play the way we want to play, and we’re off one or two per cent in the first quarter like we were on the weekend, we’ll be behind,” Burgoyne said.
“There’s some things we need to address, we started slow again on the weekend and we’ve done that the last couple of weeks.
“We’ll address the poor start and come out ready to make an impact from the first bounce.
“Against those quality teams, we’re going to lose more matches than we win if we give them a head start.”
The Hawks have one week to address its slow starts, and will face a red-hot West Coast when doing so.
The Hawks take on the Eagles at the MCG on Friday night in its final home-and-away match ahead of the 2012 finals series.
The Eagles defeated the Magpies by 49 points on Saturday night on the back of the form of former number two draft pick, Nic Naitanui.
“He’s a phenomenal player, Nic, I don’t think there’s anyone who plays the game like he does in the ruck,” Burgoyne said.
“It’s going to be a pretty tough task whoever we pick in the ruck this week.”
Kate Salemme is a member of Hawthorn Football Club’s Digital media team reporting exclusively for hawthornfc.com.au from the Ricoh Centre.
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