The Hawks will put a focus on improving their delivery inside 50 against the Giants on Saturday night as they look to make the jump into the top eight, according to forward Luke Breust.
Despite overcoming the Suns by 53 points last weekend, the Hawks suffered a slow start and were inaccurate in front of goal all day, kicking 13.18, with Breust pinpointing the side’s efficiency going forward as the main issue.
“We’ve trained it, we’ve done it to death in review meetings and things like that,” Breust told media on Tuesday.
“If we can clean up those inside 50s – whether it’s a few more marks or it’s just a little bit more predictability going inside 50 – then we’re only going to become more potent in front of goal.”
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Having blooded a number of young players and brought in several others via free agency and trade in the last season and a half, Breust says it’s also a matter of continuing to build on-field cohesion across all areas of the ground.
Of the 22 that faced the Gold Coast in Launceston on Saturday, nine have played less than fifty games in the brown and gold with Harry Morrison (12 games), Blake Hardwick (33), Ryan Burton (36), Dan Howe (44) and Tim O’Brien (44) all becoming senior regulars since the start of 2017.
In the same period, Jarman Impey (13 games), Tom Mitchell (35), Ricky Henderson (30), and Jaeger O’Meara (18) have also been injected into the side from other clubs.
“The chemistry’s still building,” Breust said.
“We’ve still got a number of young guys who are kicking it inside 50 that have only played 10, 15, 20 games.
“They’ll continue to build that relationship with us as forwards and then us forwards (will continue to) obviously [get] to know what the midfielders and defenders do at the same time.”
The Hawks will be looking to defeat the Giants at Spotless Stadium for the first time in Saturday night’s battle of 9th vs 10th, with the winner of the clash a chance to immediately jump into the top eight.
“It’s nearly a two-game split this weekend with GWS,” Breust said.
“We haven’t beaten them up there, they’re a strong side so we’ll have to be at our best on Saturday night.”
