PLEASED with the ‘grit’ his side showed to drag itself back from the brink of defeat against St Kilda in Launceston on Saturday, Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson knows the three-time reigning premier’s can’t continue to survive on luck alone.
Having seen the Hawks improve to a 3-1 record on the back of a second consecutive come-from-behind win, Clarkson told reporters at Aurora Stadium his side needs to make improvements as they continue their quest for a fourth straight flag in 2016.
“We’ve probably got a fair target on our foreheads at the minute given that we’ve had success over the past couple of years and these clubs are coming at us hard and we’re proud that we’re just holding up, but we’re just holding up at the minute,” he said.
“The tide will eventually turn on us if we keep producing footy like we did today. I think the luck’s not going to stay our way.”
“That’s the sign of a proud group and when the chips are down they find a way, but probably two weeks in a row the better side has lost.”
Staring down the barrel of a first defeat in 16 starts in Launceston when the Saints pulled out to an 11-point lead early in the final term, the Hawks responded through goals to Jordan Lewis, Luke Breust and Paul Puopolo to again take the lead.
But when Paddy McCartin took an outstanding pack mark in the dying minutes to set up a shot on goal from 40m out, the game looked like being taken away from the Hawks.
Their luck held, however, as McCartin’s shot slid just wide and they were able to hang on in the dying moments.
“McCartin has a shot at goal from just a wonderful pack mark and that’s a whisker from being a goal, just one side of the post than the other and that’s the difference in the game, really,” Clarkson said, suggesting his side is a long way from playing its best footy.
“We’re proud of the group that they’re finding a way to win, but we’re a far cry from our best footy and we need to work out what that is and what’s causing us not to move the ball as well as we’d like. Some of it is obviously to do with the opposition,” he said.
St Kilda was able to win the contested possession count 152-138 and was also effective in choking the Hawks who were forced to distribute the ball by hand rather than by foot, as is their preference.
Midfield general Sam Mitchell racked up a career-high 44 possessions in a dominant display, but the fact he was forced to handball on 31 occasions was enough to take some of the gloss off the performance for Clarkson.
“(Mitchell) played a good game, got his hands on the footy but such was the pressure from the St Kilda side he was forced to handball a lot,” he said.
“He’s a better player for us when he’s kicking the ball rather than handballing.
“He had a lot of touches but two thirds of those touches were handballs, so that’s indicative of the pressure applied by the opposition and we need to try to correct that over the next few weeks, not just with Sam but with all our players.”
Hawthorn host Adelaide at the MCG on Friday night and given the Crows’ early-season form, the Hawks will be looking for plenty of improvement on Saturday’s performance – and hoping that luck stays with them for at least another week.
“We’ve played two sides that are up and coming sides, that have a lot of youth and enthusiasm and they’ve both really taken it up to us in the last two weeks and we’ve been pretty lucky to get the victories,” Clarkson said.
“It’d probably be disrespectful to both Western Bulldogs and St Kilda if we think we need to improve further (to beat the Crows). We’ve come up against two really good opponents and we come up against another one.”
