FAITH has played a big role in the redemption of Hawthorn forward Jarryd Roughead.

After bearing the brunt of public criticism for a lacklustre performance against Essendon last week, Roughead bounced back to slot through six goals in the Hawks’ eight point loss to West Coast at Subiaco.

Despite Hawthorn recording its sixth straight defeat, Roughead continues to talk about the faith the club and his teammates have shown in him.

“That’s part of life as an AFL footballer, the ups and downs,” he said.

“Hawthorn has shown faith in me. When I first got here in 2005 it was a bit tough. We then reached the top of the mountain in 2008.

“Obviously teams are going to go through hard times and this is one for us, but we saw today we had 10 or 15 blokes who had played less than 50 games so it’s going to look up for the club.”

Roughead began slowly against the Eagles but almost single-handedly stole the game for the Hawks with four final-quarter goals, answering the critics of his set-shot kicking style.

“I’ve worked on it the last two-and-a-half years and obviously I was off to a rough start this year,” he said.

 “But the boys have got faith to kick it to me, so I’ve just got to finish it off.

“It was good at the end there to get a couple of set shots and put them through, but that obviously wasn’t enough to get the four points unfortunately.”

Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson conceded that Roughead should not have played against Essendon after pulling up sore from ruck duties against the Kangaroos in round five.

But Roughead won’t rule out a return as a back-up to the Hawks’ only recognised ruckman Brent Renouf.

“I suppose it adds a bit more to your game,” he said.

“You look at other blokes in the competition they’re not one-position players. So to get up there and get off some of the good defenders is a good chance for me to run around and get into the game and get a couple of touches.

“If it’s any way to help the boys, it’s good for the team.”

Roughead said the return of Lance Franklin could only strengthen the team’s forward set-up for next Sunday’s clash against Richmond at the MCG.

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