Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson says finding a “pot of gold” within his squad will be prioritised over winning during the club’s final four games of the AFL season.
The Hawks have lost eight of their past nine matches to crash out of finals contention, leaving them playing for pride in their remaining games.
Hawthorn will have a great chance to snap their four-match losing run when they take on winless Adelaide at Adelaide Oval on Tuesday night.
But Clarkson says now is the perfect chance to experiment with his squad and methodology rather than focusing purely on the result of each game.
“Where our philosophy lies is more on preparation for 2021 and beyond rather than 2020,” Clarkson said.
“Our focus really isn’t on the urgency of a win or loss here.
“Otherwise we wouldn’t be shaping our side the way we are in terms of five day breaks, and we’d just be playing all our older guys.
“The win’s valuable for us and helps with belief and your culture, but it’s not the be all and end all.
“It’s not absolutely crucial.”
Although disappointed with how this season has panned out, Clarkson is using it to find the pieces of the puzzle he needs for the club’s next flag.
“So we’ll continue to use the last four games of the season as an opportunity to find out more about our players in different positions and different opportunities they may get,” Clarkson said.
“And (we’ll) also trial different methodology with the way we go about it to try to find some sort of little pot of gold that will help us on our path to our next piece of silverware.”
Clarkson confirmed that star midfielder Jaeger O’Meara will miss a third game in a row with a fractured hand.
“Given where our season’s at and we can’t qualify for finals, it would be foolish to take any risks with that,” Clarkson said.
“His hand is a really important part of his craft and we’ll take it as long as we need to in terms of when he’s going to be right.”
Hawthorn coughed up a 36-point half-time lead in their 16-point loss to Essendon last week.
The Crows (0-13) are in the midst of a club-record 16-game losing streak, with three of those coming at the end of last season.