HAWTHORN will use its week off to improve small areas of its game ahead of its Preliminary Final next Saturday at the MCG.
While the Hawks have been three finalists - Sydney, West Coast and Collingwood in three weeks, Assistant Coach Brendon Bolton says the job isn’t done yet.
Instead, the coaches and players will be reviewing tapes to ensure the players are performing to the best of their ability when they face either Adelaide or Fremantle for a spot in this year’s grand final.
“There’s nothing of any real significance, but just making sure we move the ball in the manner we’d like to and ensure we’re defending and doing that really diligently,” Bolton said at the Ricoh Centre on Tuesday.
“Both sides of the ball, both offense and defence, we just pull apart little edits where players can do it better or where they’ve done it well and need to continue.
“It’s nothing big, it’s more just making sure we’re mastering our craft.”
After a bruising encounter with Collingwood in the Qualifying Final, the Hawthorn fitness and coaching staff have taken the opportunity to lighten training loads.
That won’t last long though, with Bolton hinting at ramping up preparations for its next final at the end of the week.
“We’ve just lightened the load a little bit in terms of our training and we’ll build that up a bit later in the week,” he said.
“That’s the lucky nature of being able to have the week off, just being able to lighten the load and freshen the guys up and then build into next week.”
The Hawks’ midfield coach refused to buy into talk of a preferred opponent, and instead reiterated that the Club is focused on preparing for both the Crows and the Dockers.
“We’ve just got to face who comes and make sure our focus is purely on that game,” he said.
“Both are formidable opponents and have played some really good footy during the year.
“We don’t go into that, we’re just worried about who it’ll be and when we find out we’ll put even more homework in.
“We’re not too concerned.”
Bolton admitted that the injury to Brendan Whitecross is a blow, but is confident the Hawks have the depth to cover his loss.
“He’s a big loss, we know he’s provided lots of run and been a good half forward/midfielder,” he said.
“(But) we’ve had players of the likes of (Shane) Savage who have come in and filled those sorts of roles, and (Xavier) Ellis on the weekend.
“We think we’re deep enough to be able to cover him, but it is sad for the lad.”
Kate Salemme is a member of Hawthorn Football Club's Digital Media team reporting exclusively for hawthornfc.com.au from the Ricoh Centre.
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