Mitchell laments Hawks’ ‘let down’ loss to Suns

Murray Wenzel | June 26, 2023

Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell has criticised his side’s final-quarter fade-out against Gold Coast after they became the latest victim of the AFL’s bye.

The Hawks (4-10) led 18-0 early and trailed by 10 at halftime to the Suns (7-7) before the hosts ran away 67-point winners on Sunday.

A 35-0 final quarter twisted the knife further for the Hawks, who had upset Brisbane to make it three wins from four before last week’s bye.

“I was really disappointed in the last quarter,” Mitchell said.

“When you’re a fan of a club and member of a club like Hawthorn you want to see progress, spirit and belief in the direction you’re going.

“Against Port (a 55-point loss) we were a long way down at halftime, but we played with a spirit and belief that they knew how to get back into the game.

“Today we never could find a way to get ourselves up and going.

“I feel like we let our people down today.”

Hawthorn became the 10th team to lose among the 12 who’ve resumed from a bye so far this season, with the only two winners coming in games where both teams had the bye.

Mitchell’s men had been on the other end of that, given their win over the Lions came after Brisbane had enjoyed their bye.

“We had a theory, I used it and it didn’t work,” Mitchell said.

“We did know the pattern, have no excuse around the bye. It doesn’t stand up at all. We’ve got to be better.

“At the 10 minute mark I thought, ‘Oh well, the boys are in the right spot’.

“We couldn’t sustain that and their pressure continued on and we couldn’t.

“We tried to pull some levers today to get the game on our terms and none seemed to work.”