Senior Coach Sam Mitchell shares his reflections following his side's 24-point loss to Essendon in Round 1.
On the result:
"I think we had a lot of opportunities, particularly in the second quarter. We just couldn't make the most of them. We were able to get the ball inside forward 50, we just could't capitalise on our chances - 28 scoring shots and three or four other misses. And it was their conversion that won them the game really. The thing to take out of the game was there was some positives, but we weren't good enough to execute the plan to a high enough level often enough. I couldn't question how hard the boys worked. I think if you came to this game and watched it live and watched the work-rate of our players, you would say they are enormously invested in what they are trying to do. And we had the majority of players cramping, and so did Essendon. But I was just really proud of the work ethic that the boys put in, we just weren't quite polished enough."
On Hawthorn's inaccurate kicking:
"If I had the pre-season again, I wouldn't change how much goal kicking we've done - we have done a huge amount. Maybe I'm tempting fate here, but I don't think that is going to be a pattern. I think a lot of players who missed some shots on goal today are beautiful shots. Marbs missed a couple he should have kicked, and he's a beautiful shot at goal. I don't think too often in Luke Breust's career he misses that many, also the Wiz has 0.3, all tough shots from him, but they are doing a lot of work and I don't think it will be a pattern. One of the troubles we had last season was how can we find a way to score, today we found ways to score, they just weren't goals."
On Dylan Moore's performance:
"I'm really proud of him, he kicks three straight and his work rate is enormous. We kept his game time down a little bit today, but when it came to this week, I just knew he would make the right decision whether he could play. He had been medically cleared, but you can't test for Glandular Fever and how recovered you are, so we really had to trust him and I'm really proud that he was able to put in such a strong performance today."
On Hawthorn's new-look forward line:
"You can see what we are trying to build. It's been a couple of years that we have been trying to build this foundation that can springboard us into September action, and we knew there would be some missing parts when we stripped the list back, and adding excitement into the front half was a priority of ours. You see the finals campaign of last year, and the small forwards were the difference in a lot of games, and that's going to be us, they are going to be the guys who are going to take us there. But we need to be more consistent across the ground, across four quarters, in front of goal, from centre bounce, we can't afford to give up goals from our D-50, from our ball use. Once we get all those things right, I think you see where we are heading and what we are working towards. And certainly Ginni is going to bring a level of excitement to the rest of the team and the Wizard isn't far behind him."
