WHILE the Hawks will look to move on quickly from Friday night, defender Ben Stratton believes there is also plenty the side can learn from the match.
The Hawks were jumped early by the fast-starting Power in the 22-point loss, but fought back into the contest before the Power found a final-term burst.
“We knew they were going to come out with nothing to lose… they were going to take it on, and we thought if we could absorb it and then counter attack that would be the right thing,” Stratton said.
“We just couldn’t absorb it – we clawed our way back, but in the end their start was what got us.”
Stratton said the Hawks expected opposition teams to play that way against them.
While he described the loss as “disappointing,” he also said it gave the Hawks two weeks to improve aspects of their game before finals.
“I think there’s a bit to learn out of that,” he said.
“We know that teams are going to come at us with everything they’ve got, especially early in games.
“It was pleasing that we could claw our back and even though we were down and not playing good footy, we were still in the game.
“In patches we played some good footy, but we’ve got a lot to work on from here.”
The Hawks have two games to go before finals – against Brisbane Lions and Carlton.
A trip to Perth in the first week of finals is all but locked in, with Fremantle and West Coast Eagles needing to win just one of their remaining two games to lock in home qualifying finals.
Stratton said the Hawks would be desperate to put on a stronger performance against the Lions at Aurora Stadium on Saturday.
“Obviously it’s pretty disappointing to lose like that, but we’ll move on pretty quickly and focus on the next two weeks,” he said.
“The positive is we’ve got two weeks to go before finals to refine our game.”
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