Coach Sam Mitchell has warned his winless Hawthorn team to expect a torrid week of training as he questions their work ethic and physique after a 53-point loss to Gold Coast.
Four-time Hawthorn senior player Mitchell was clearly devastated after Saturday night’s 16.13 (109) to 8.8 (56) goal at Carrara, calling his effort “as bad as we’ve played in a long time”.
The Hawks’ fifth straight loss to start the season followed an encouraging effort against defending premiers Collingwood last week.
But the coach felt there were more questions than answers after a game in which he acknowledged they had been outplayed in every aspect.
The Suns had 367 disposals of their 269, and the hosts have seven of the top eight in capturing balls.
At halftime only two Hawks had more than nine touches, Karl Amon (26) finished as the only visitor with more than 19.
They made 43 tackles to the Suns’ 60, Gold Coast’s Will Graham second with 14 alone, while no Hawk had more than four.
Mitchell rattled off a long list of problems ranging from skill execution to an inability to follow a game plan and was extremely critical of his team’s poor handling of the Suns’ pressure.
“There are too many things,” he complained.
“I spoke to the players about the standard we maintain.
“Our training, how many extras we do, how much time we put in, how many tapes we watch.
“If you’re not looking under every rock to find out.
“I don’t know how many players you would say are in good shape for us at the moment, and also the coaches.”
Mitchell said what had been discussed in midweek was not implemented on the field and added that, after a six-day series of changes, training could look different ahead of Sunday’s crucial clash with North Melbourne.
“We have an extra day and our training has been lighter, but I think we’ll probably have to step up some things during the week,” he said.
“If we lose one, get a cork or something, we’ll probably have to accept it.
“Because we can’t play with the physical level we did tonight and we hope to be competitive.”
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AAP
