Five things we learned against the Hawks
Firstly, credit must be given to the Hawks, who were hungrier and outperformed West Coast in every aspect of the game at Optus Stadium. Warning signs were evident from the opening plays for the Eagles, and the gap could have been much larger than 17 points at the first break if Hawthorn had capitalized on their chances. Unfortunately, as the game progressed, things did not improve, with key statistics overwhelmingly in favor of Hawthorn. As coach Adam Simpson noted post-game, this defeat highlighted a collective failure to match Hawthorn’s hunt and pressure, which overwhelmed West Coast.