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Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell didn’t mince his words on Saturday night. He was scathing post-game after his side was embarrassed by Gold Coast at People First Stadium. And he had every right to be filthy.
This was the year the Hawks were expected to start making progress after two years of development under Mitchell. But midway through April, the rebuild project at Waverley Park has stagnated.
At 0-5, Hawthorn has made its worst start to a season since 1970.
A week after almost pulling off one of the upsets of the season against Collingwood – and a fortnight after a gallant performance on Easter Monday – Hawthorn returned from Queensland on Sunday wondering ‘where to from here’ after Damien Hardwick’s midfield destroyed the Hawks.
“That’s a completely unacceptable way to play. That’s as bad as we’ve played in a long time,” Mitchell lamented after the 53-point loss.
Touk MilleNoah Anderson,r and Matt Rowell are one of the premier midfield trios in the League right now and will terrorise plenty of sides in 2024, but even they would have been surprised by how easy they had it on Saturday night.
James Worpel has been great to start the year, but he was down against the Suns, finishing with just 14 disposals. Jai Newcombe and Conor Nash only had 10 touches each and two clearances between them. Cam Mackenzie was subbed out at half-time after collecting just three disposals.
The numbers are stark. Gold Coast finished with 96 more disposals – Hawthorn only had 119 at half-time – 93 more uncontested possessions, 47 more uncontested marks, 20 more inside 50s, 15 more tackles and 10 more clearances.
Suns Academy graduate Will Graham laid 14 tackles in just his second game. No Hawk had more than four. Hawthorn is yet to win this metric across the first five rounds.
