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Sport Nation
Find your frequency hereWe're a happy team: Did the Hawks get ahead of themselves?
Andrew Slevison • May 26th, 2025 5:50 pm
Hawthorn has encountered a few roadblocks in its quest to compete for the 2025 AFL premiership.
The Hawks were cast aside by reigning premiers the Brisbane Lions at the MCG on Saturday, going down by 33 points as they copped a second loss on the trot.
While they remain inside the top eight with a 7-4 record, the fact that they have beaten just one top-eight team (GWS) and lost to three (Geelong, Gold Coast and Brisbane) has raised questions over their legitimate flag candidacy.
Their wins so far in 2025 have come against: Sydney (13th), Essendon (10th), Carlton (12th), GWS (8th), West Coast (18th), Richmond (16th) and Melbourne (11th).
Judging by what we saw last season and in the early stages of this one, it’s evident that the Hawks have the talent and game style to compete at the pointy end.
However, in order to bounce back, David King believes they need to iron out some costly kinks. And quickly.
“I just think that they need a sit-down as a playing group, and to accept some responsibilities to do their own jobs, their own roles,” Kind said on SEN’s Fireball.
“I think there's half the team trying to do too much to help the team win. I watched young (Josh) Weddle on review, watched the game from behind the goals.
“He's trying to do everything for the team. He's leaving his man at the wrong times just to get involved, to outnumber, to try and impact and influence the game.
“So they're admirable traits, but just do your job. When you've got a man to beat, just beat that guy, particularly when you're down back.
“All these things have conspired against them. In the end they're off. There's something not right about the collective.”
King is unsure if the off-season additions of Tom Barrass and Josh Battle have gelled just yet, and also questioned if their ball movement out of defence at present, which centres around captain James Sicily, is up to scratch.
“Whether the settling period while Tom Barrass and Josh Battle take effect down back is affecting James Sicily, I don't know,” he added.
“But their ball movement doesn't have the same damage it had in the back half last year. Their stability behind the ball is poorer for having these gun recruits come in.
“So something is just not right, and I think they need to sit down, the pow-wow has to be had over the next couple of weeks.”
Kane Cornes, who loves the Hawks under Sam Mitchell, was also critical of the team in its current form.
He says ball movement has been Hawthorn’s ‘weapon’ of late, but noted their struggles in that area.
“A couple of issues for me with the loss of their weapon with that ball use,” said Cornes.
“They left five or six goals just out there. Un-pressured going into a dangerous position, turning the footy over, which kills you on the rebound and makes your defensive system look pretty average.
“But if that ball finds a target inside forward 50 and you're having a shot, your defence is setting up.
“That has been lost - their weapon - and certainly was an issue for them.”
In the absence of the injured Will Day, too much is left to too few in the middle including James Worpel who Cornes believes needs to be tidier with his ball use.
The Hawks lost the clearance battle 24-41 which included centre clearances 7-14 and stoppage clearances 17-27 which largely contributed to the 93 points they conceded.
“Then it's the midfield. Last week I said they just looked one midfielder short, and Will Day would be that midfielder,” he continued.
“Clearly nothing you can do about that, he's not there, but they are getting smacked from the midfield, and this is a pretty combative group.
“I’m not sure Worpel is the answer. The amount of times he just picks it up and hacks it forward, hacks it out of stoppage, which is exactly what the opposition wants.
“I think he's a grab-it-and-kick-it-forward guy. So if he's going to be in the team - which he needs to be - then I think you'd be looking for him to be a more distributor by hand, more so than kick.
“He kicked it at 31 per cent on the weekend, a lot of those were out of stoppage, I get that.”
Cornes also floated a possible point in difference in the midfield, urging Mitchell to throw dynamic small forward Nick Watson into the fray every now and then.
“I would be putting ‘The Wizard’ in there,” he added.
“They would say his engine isn't good enough to go midfield yet. It's not big midfield minutes, but it's big impact.
“What Kozzie Pickett has done this year (at Melbourne) is as a result of Simon Goodwin putting him in more centre bounce (contests) and then getting the mismatch forward.
“I would be definitely exploring putting Nick Watson for something else and a different look around stoppage, because they have been beaten up there.
“They've got time to correct this. Brisbane were going awfully at this time last year.
“There's plenty of time to correct this, and I think it is correctable.”
King says it has to be given the talent at Mitchell’s disposal.
“Well, they're too good not to,” King extended.
“It would be one of the great wastes if they didn't correct it in the back half of the season.”
But King did say that Hawthorn’s form must turn quickly and the excuses must stop.
He feels that perhaps they’ve got ahead of themselves and the only solution is to look inwardly.
“And I don't want to hear about the fact that Will Day's not there. They've got an injury list that's got about four guys on it,” he continued.
“They are incredibly healthy. They're missing one midfielder and Luke Breust (and Mitch Lewis) in the forward line.
“When was the last time they relied on Mitch Lewis to win them a game? Been a long time, so I don't factor him in. When he comes back, terrific, but he hasn't really been that player.
“So I think that the excuses at Hawthorn run thin, I think they're a very happy team, they're a bit too happy with themselves.
“They've done nothing. They had a good run in the back half of last year that ran aground when it shouldn't have in a final series.
“They’ve got to get to work. They’ve got to knuckle down and have some honesty sessions, I think.”
The Hawks gets the chance to bounce back with the sternest test in footy right now - Collingwood at the MCG - on Friday night.
