Hawthorn Coach Sam Mitchell says he was pleased with his side’s ability to have shown some fight back against a dominant Melbourne at the MCG on Saturday night.
Although his young Hawks outfit struggled to account for the top-of-the-ladder Demons at the beginning of the match, the coach pointed to the turnaround following half-time as a positive sign.
“Melbourne are a good side, and we had no answers early in the game,’ Mitchell said.
“But I was pleased with the resilience of our group and the fact we found a couple of different things in the game.
“I think we scored more in the third quarter today than the rest of the season’s third quarters combined.
“The spirit around the group in that first part of the third was really good… we’d like to play like that all the time, but at the moment we’re just not quite there.”
Although Melbourne's seasoned on-ball brigade ultimately proved too strong, Mitchell noted his midfield – led by Will Day, Jai Newcombe and James Worpel – continued to build more consistency.
“I thought our mids stood up again,” Mitchell said.
“Melbourne are a good side and not to say that we won that midfield battle, but we certainly didn’t disgrace ourselves around the middle of the ground.
“The consistency of the midfield took another step, there are players there that are coming a part of our key group which is really important.
“There were a lot of good contests today, they just had a bit more polish than us.”
The second-year coach added that while he hopes his developing Hawthorn side will see some reward for effort with a win soon, he doesn't see the scoreboard as the only measure of progression.
“We’re on our own journey and we know were trying to make progress and were trying to get better,” Mitchell added.
“I think even if we don’t win games of footy, we know when we’ve made significant strides.
“Even though we lost to a very good side, we still made some progress towards the direction in which we want to go.
"Last week against Fremantle we couldn't really have said that. I would've said that was a backwards step.
"Today, it's not a giant step forward by any stretch, but there were some parts of the game that looked promising."
Hear more from Mitchell post-game.
