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Mitchell: 'That's not an excuse'

Hawthorn Coach Sam Mitchell says his side lacked effort in its disappointing 42-point loss to the Western Bulldogs on Friday night.

The Hawks had an early jump on the Dogs, breaking out to a 20-0 lead before conceding 13 consecutive goals across the second and third terms.

Both sides then kicked seven majors each in the final quarter.

However, Mitchell's side side only had 15 inside 50s for two quarters.

“Despite being a young group, that’s not an excuse,” Mitchell said. 

“We just didn’t have enough players that were tough enough for long enough today.”

Mitchell said his group struggled to match the Bulldogs intensity over four quarters. 

“We’ve proven that we can match it with a really strong side like that for periods of the game, but we just can’t do it for long enough at the moment,” Mitchell said.  

“And that’s not acceptable in our standards and what we want to achieve as a group.

"There's a little bit of disappointment – more than a little bit of disappointment – in how that looked, particularly in quarters two and three."

Listen to Mitchell’s full press conference below.

06:47

 

At Hawthorn

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