Canny Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson has downplayed his club’s stunning late season surge into the AFL’s top four and says they need to lift a gear in the finals.
The Hawks nine-point win at the SCG on Saturday over Sydney secured them a top four spot and denied the Swans the same double chance opportunity.
“We’ve won six games on the trot and we’ve been really pleased with that and we’ve worked really hard in that period of time to achieve that,” Clarkson said.
‘But it’s hardly been startling footy. We need to find a way to lift it up a gear in the next couple of weeks.
“We’re going to be coming up against formidable opponents who have been probably top four for the whole year, where as this is the first time we’ve even sniffed it. So we need need to get a bit better and if we do then, who knows where it will take us.
“It’s hard not to watch some of the sides that have been well above us on the ladder throughout the course of the year, to see what they are doing and why they are the sides that they are, and we’ve got some studying to do over the next couple of weeks.”
Clarkson lauded both his veterans and emerging youngsters after the Hawks overturned a four-goal second quarter deficit against Sydney.
He said they got important contributions from Harry Morrison and James Worpel, both 19, and 20-year-old Irishman Conor Nash.
Clarkson felt the efforts of the younger Hawks was one of the factors in their winning streak.
“We injected some younger guys into the side that have given us some real enthusiasm and that’s helping us,’ he said.
The Hawks could regain the services of James Sicily for week one of the finals, after the emerging star broke a scaphoid against Brisbane in mid-July.
“We’re at that point in time where I think he’s missed the six, we’ve gone six-zip without him, so maybe we don’t play him, I don’t know,” Clarkson said.
“‘I’m being a smart alec by saying that, but he’s an important player for us.
‘He’ll be a handy return for us, if he is available to play, but we need to get the specialist’s call on that.”
