1. Hawks must address their slow starts
West Coast ambushed the Hawks in the opening term on Friday night, kicking five goals to two in the first quarter to take a 20-point lead into quarter time. A lead the reigning premiers weren’t able to reel in.
Hawthorn has lost ten first quarters in 2016, with seven of those coming against Geelong, Adelaide, GWS, North Melbourne, West Coast and Sydney (twice).
The Hawks will need to start their games much better in the next few weeks to set themselves up for another flag tilt.
2. Kaiden Brand filling the void of Ben Stratton
After missing most of 2015 with a shoulder reconstruction, Kaiden Brand looks to be a promising key defender for the Hawks.
He completed a number of diligent spoils against West Coast’s dangerous marking forwards, and also ran down Elliot Yeo who was away into an open goal, showing he has some pace for a 200cm player.
If Ben Stratton’s absence has yielded any positives, it is the emergence of Brand as a dependable part of Hawthorn’s backline going forward.
3. Luke Hodge is more than capable of playing on next season
If there were any doubters thinking Luke Hodge’s career may be finished after the 2016 season, they were silenced on Friday night.
The skipper was everywhere in the first half when the Hawks were under siege, sweeping across half back and also setting up Luke Breust with an early goal.
He finished with a team-high 28 disposals and was easily in the Hawks’ best half a dozen players, showing the Hawthorn champion has plenty left to give.
4. One soldier down, another comes in
The shattering news came through on Sunday that ruckman Jonathon Ceglar had ruptured his ACL in the loss to the Eagles and will miss the rest of the season – and most of 2017 – with a knee reconstruction.
But when one soldier goes down, another comes in. Marc Pittonet or Jack Fitzpatrick will have the chance to make a spot in the team their own if the Hawks elect to continue playing two specialist ruckmen.
5. Don’t lose faith, Hawks fans!
While the loss to West Coast on Friday night was far from ideal, there is still a long way to go in 2016.
Hawthorn showed last season it isn’t worried about having to go interstate to play finals, and there is lots of improvement left in this side.
While lots of players didn’t have great games on Friday night, the Hawks are sure to bounce back with a strong performance against Collingwood this week.
