HAWTHORN defender Josh Gibson says the Tigers out-hunted the Hawks on Saturday, culminating in a runaway 62-point victory at the MCG.
It was not a performance the football world has come to expect from the Hawks, beaten by the Tigers in the contested footy, tackles and inside 50s.
The Hawks are known for their ability to win those key performance indicators, and the players were disappointed in their efforts on the weekend.
“As a playing group we’re disappointed,” Gibson said at the Ricoh Centre on Monday.
“We got beaten in some key areas that we pride ourselves on and you’ve got to win them to win games of footy.”
Gibson credited Richmond’s ability to pressure and cause turnovers, something that the Hawks failed to do throughout the afternoon.
“I think it just comes down to getting out-hunted,” he said.
“They really attacked us and we probably didn’t attack them in the same manner.
“They stuck to their structures better than what we did.”
Sitting at 5-4 and in eighth position on the ladder, Gibson says the Club needs to find the right balance across four quarters.
“We’ve played some goods games but we’ve had some poor quarters and I guess it comes down to that inconsistency,” he said.
“It’s the ability to sustain that effort over four quarters week in, week out that’s going to help us play better as a side.”
The Hawks defender said the ability to find the right balance relies on the players focusing on the “little areas”.
“It’s focusing on all those little areas and making sure that you’re ticking them off constantly and not just focusing on doing well at one certain bit for a quarter and forget about the other ones,” he said.
“That’s probably what’s happened lately, we’ve just dropped away in some certain areas and you need to be consistently applying them all, all the time.”
Skipper Luke Hodge has played just two matches this season, and has missed the past three matches with a knee injury that is likely to keep him out for another two-three weeks.
While Gibson says the team misses their skipper, it’s up to the 22 players who run out onto the field to lift their intensity when challenged.
“It’s down to the 22 blokes playing,” he said.
“You can’t rely on one bloke to lift a side, so if we’re sitting here waiting for Hodgey to lift us, then that’s not going to get us anywhere.
“It doesn’t matter who’s out there each week, it’s the 22 blokes that when the games aren’t going your way need to lift together to help you get a win.
“Its got to be a team effort.”
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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