Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell has heaped reward on his midfield after a 116-point rout of West Coast lifted the membership off the underside of the AFL ladder.
The Hawks ran roughshod over the injury-hit Eagles in Launceston on Sunday to clinch their second win of the season and rise to sixteenth on the ladder.
Mitchell urged his group to benefit from the victory after “shooting themselves in the foot” final spherical towards Melbourne, and slender losses to GWS and Adelaide in April.
“Most games this year we’ve taken some steps of improvement,” he mentioned.
“A lot of things went right (against West Coast). But some of the progress we’ve made from the training we’ve done was the thing we’re probably the most proud of.”
Hawthorn dominated throughout the person and group stat sheets, with Mitch Lewis scoring a career-best six objectives.
James Sicily and Conor Nash picked up an equal game-high 30 possessions, whereas Josh Weddle and James Worpel weren’t far behind with 28 and 27 respectively.
Mitchell mentioned Nash had taken his sport to a brand new stage this 12 months as a part of his shift in the direction of the center of the sector.
“If it’s not him, it’s (Jai) Newcombe, (James) Worpel, (Will) Day, (Cam) Mackenzie or (Josh Weddle),” Mitchell mentioned.
“The balance of our midfield is one of the strengths of what we’re producing at the moment.
“Last 12 months we have been form of 18th in most midfield statistics,” Mitchell mentioned.
“We thought if we rejuvenated the midfield specifically that could be an space we might enhance fairly shortly (however) we’re removed from a completed manufacturing across the center of the bottom.”
Hawthorn play St Kilda on Saturday afternoon but may be forced to make changes, with Sam Frost on report for striking.
Ruckman Nat Reeves was subbed out in the third quarter with an ankle problem.
“He had a little bit of an ankle (concern) the final couple of weeks. I’m undecided whether it is in the identical form of space. It was fairly precautionary,” Mitchell mentioned.
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
