HAWTHORN vice-captain Jordan Lewis believes it may take some time for the Hawks to gel in 2016.
With six changes to the Hawks’ 2015 premiership side in Round 1 – and another change looming this week if skipper Luke Hodge is ruled out with an arm injury – it’s a new-look team for the three-time reigning premiers.
Ruckman Marc Pittonet made his AFL debut against the Cats, with fellow inclusions Will Langford, Angus Litherland, Billy Hartung, Jonathan O’Rourke and James Sicily entering the 2016 season with less than 100 senior games between them.
“Anything that involves change, you can’t really take a snapshot in one week,” Lewis said on Tuesday.
“We need to learn over three, four (weeks) or even longer to see whether it will work.
“We’ve got complete confidence in the coaching staff and our ability to play the game, we’re not just going to throw everything out the window after one game."
The Hawks’ ability to integrate younger players into the side will be integral to their chances of a top-four finish.
But after one game, Lewis knows the side has plenty of room to improve.
“You’ve got to remember it’s Round 1, so you can’t expect to be at your absolute peak,” he said.
“We would have liked to have won and we would have liked to have played well, but there’s certainly learnings to come out of the game.
“I think the effort was there on occasions, but just our disposal and probably the way we moved the ball didn’t really help us score on occasions.
“As Clarko said last night, if you play one good quarter of football, you can’t expect to be in the game against good sides like Geelong.”
Lewis praised a team effort in the third term – but said the Hawks needed to be more consistent.
The midfield veteran was among the Hawks’ best, collecting 30 disposals in the 30-point loss to Geelong.
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