‘Look in the mirror’: how Lions loss jarred Hawks
Roger Vaughan |
Jai Newcombe has drawn parallels between Hawthorn’s heavy loss to Brisbane last month and the AFL finals thumping that fired the Lions up.
Hawthorn will host Brisbane at the MCG in Saturday’s preliminary final, six weeks after the reigning back-to-back premiers mauled them by 67 points at the Gabba.
It was the Hawks’ biggest losing margin since late April, 2024. They bounced back immediately, drawing with Collingwood and beating West Coast, before stunning minor premiers Fremantle in their qualifying final.
The Lions were stung into action by their terrible qualifying final against Sydney, blitzing Adelaide in last Saturday night’s semi-final with a five-goal start that decided the match.
“You expect a response like that,” said Newcombe, the Hawks co-captain. “To see them jump out of the blocks like that wasn’t too much of a surprise.
“The lessons for us (in the Brisbane loss) were probably similar to what they just got against Sydney.
“We weren’t strong enough, out-worked around the footy, a lot of those sorts of things.
“It was a bit of an off weekend in a way, which happens from time-to-time. (It was) a bit of ‘look in the mirror’ sort-of stuff and they outclassed us, completely, up there.”
This Saturday’s clash with Brisbane comes a year after Hawthorn lost their preliminary final to Geelong.
At the club’s best-and-fairest night, coach Sam Mitchell said he “hated” watching the grand final.
Especially in the wake of their outstanding win over Fremantle two weekends ago, Newcombe feels Hawthorn are far more ready this time to make their first grand final since 2015.
“There’s a lot of confidence within ourselves that I don’t think was as high coming into this game last year,” Newcombe said.
“We’re pretty happy with the position we’re in.”
AAP