HAWTHORN midfielder Tim Clarke hopes history counts for nothing as his team prepares to tackle the Sydney Swans at the MCG this weekend.
The Swans have been a bogey team for the Hawks of late, having won their past six matches against Hawthorn by an average of 44 points.
While many would deem Alastair Clarkson’s men to have been in a re-building phase for much of that time, the Swans were still able to take care of the Hawks twice last year when the brown and golds were on the march.
Clarke, while acknowledging the Swans have “had the edge” on his side, doesn’t believe his side has any mental barrier to overcome on Sunday.
The 26-year-old thinks if his team stays true to its game style it will come out on top.
“It’s their discipline, their ability to shut down the opposition,” Clarke said when asked what made the Swans so tough to play.
“We’re just going to go out there and play our style of football and just try to focus on what we have to do.”
Helping the Hawks in their bid to reverse their current trouble with the Swans will be the fact they won’t have to worry about Barry Hall, who will be missing due to suspension.
Although Clarke said the ability of Paul Roos’ side to cover for each other was unlikely to make his absence too significant.
“The hard thing when you play Sydney is that they play so well as a team,” Clarke said.
“Somebody else is going to come in and take his position and we’ll prepare now for Sydney without Barry.
“They’ve got some other forwards that will still be there on Sunday and we have to plan for them.
“They’re still going to play the same way, with or without Barry.”
Hawthorn is third on the ladder after 14 rounds and set to regain some stars in coming weeks.
Clarke admitted his side was in need of a rest following its most-recent win over the West Coast Eagles.
He said several players under injury clouds, including veteran Shane Crawford, trained at Waverley on Tuesday but assessments on their fitness wouldn’t be made until later in the week.
“We play a pretty demanding style of football and we’ve trained really hard since October, so the break did come at a good time,” he said.
“The boys are fresh and we’ve got some guys, some important players who’ll be coming back from injury over the next week or two.”
