HAWTHORN will need to improve on recent form if it is to beat finals rival Collingwood next week, coach Alastair Clarkson says.
The Hawks had a comfortable 46-point win over 16th-placed St Kilda at Etihad Stadium on Friday night in a game Clarkson conceded "didn't rise to any great heights".
Given Collingwood's outstanding 79-point victory over Essendon last Sunday – coupled with his own team's upset 41-point loss to Richmond the day before – Clarkson said a better effort would be required against the Magpies.
"We saw them (Collingwood) at their best last week against the Bombers – they were super," Clarkson said post-match on Friday night.
"We're going to need to play a little bit better than what we did tonight to match it with the Pies, but we look forward to that challenge.
"It will be a great game of footy."
Of concern are the Hawks' starts.
They conceded the first 13 clearances of the game to the Tigers last weekend, and were almost as sluggish against St Kilda, trailing the contested possession count 39-18 at quarter-time on Friday night.
Youngster Shane Savage said the ladder leaders would need to be sharp from the outset against a Collingwood midfield featuring in-form ball-hunters Luke Ball, Dayne Beams, Scott Pendlebury and Dane Swan.
"It was obviously disappointing last week, and I guess we started the game a little bit like last week," Savage told hawthornfc.com.au.
"Especially in the contested part of the game, we have to get that right next week and come out hard in the first quarter, because Collingwood are up and about at the moment.
"It's important our boys start well.
"If we can do that, it will be a good game."
Both Savage and Clarkson were pleased with the Hawks' response after quarter-time, given they eventually lost contested possession by only nine (110-119), and finished comfortably in front in both clearances (36-27) and inside 50s (57-47).
"They (St Kilda) were pretty hard at it," Clarkson said.
"That part of the St Kilda game can't be dismissed easily.
"They've got a good ruckman … and a really solid midfield, so I don't think it's embarrassing at all to get nutted by them for a period in the game.
"They showed us how to go about it in the first quarter, but fortunately for our guys we got it together after that.
"There's no doubt if you win that area of the game it's going to help you win the game of footy, but you're not going to have it on your terms all the time. St Kilda had us early, but we managed to pull it back later in the game."
