Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell believes it is too soon to consider his team among the AFL’s top contenders. However, he is optimistic that with continued confidence and by avoiding complacency, they will soon reach that level. The Hawks recently achieved their fifth consecutive victory and their seventh win in the last eight games with a commanding 61-point victory over West Coast in Perth.
Despite currently being 13th on the ladder with an 8-7 record, Hawthorn is only half a win behind the eighth-placed Brisbane Lions and just one win away from fifth-placed Geelong. Alongside Sydney, the Hawks are arguably one of the hottest teams in the AFL right now. Mitchell, however, is keeping expectations in check. “I think you get what you deserve in the game, so we deserve to be where we are (in 13th spot),” he said. “We haven’t been consistent enough and we haven’t played at our best often enough for the whole season. It’s a long year and you don’t get to just win different parts of it. I still watch the best teams in the competition and think they’re a bit ahead of us right at this moment.”
Hawthorn began the season with five straight losses, but their recent strong form has boosted the squad’s confidence. Their only loss in the past eight matches was a narrow one-point defeat to Port Adelaide. Mitchell emphasized the importance of maintaining confidence without becoming complacent. “We deserve to feel confident, but that doesn’t give you the right to be complacent. That sometimes can be a fine line,” he said. “I love that our players play with an enormous amount of confidence and so long as we keep it as confidence and not as complacency, then I’m all for it.”
The victory in Perth was Hawthorn’s first interstate win this season, aside from their two victories at their secondary home ground at York Park in Launceston. Mitchell aims to turn the Hawks into a team that can consistently win on the road. “There’s lots of stepping stones to become the team that you want to be and one of them is obviously winning on the road,” Mitchell said. “You can’t afford to be a team in this national competition that loses away all the time, and that has been us unfortunately. So it’s a step forward for our maturity today that we’re able to get a win on the road and hopefully that’s the first of a run.”
The Hawks’ impressive run will face a significant challenge when they play against the Cats at GMHBA Stadium on Saturday. Additionally, they might have to do so without their captain, James Sicily, who re-injured his troublesome right shoulder during the win over West Coast.
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