SHAUN Burgoyne has warned his Hawthorn teammates not to dwell on the heartbreaking loss to Geelong or they risk being ambushed by the Western Bulldogs this Friday night.
The Hawks were flattened by the gut-wrenching two-point defeat to the Cats, but are rallying around wingman Isaac Smith following his missed set shot after the siren.
Instead of enjoying the week off and a home preliminary final, the Hawks must now tread the same path as last season by winning three cut-throat finals to clinch a record-equalling fourth consecutive flag.
"We've done things the hard way the last few years, we've had a lot of obstacles thrown at us and shown that we're a pretty resilient group, and at times you need to draw on that," Burgoyne said.
"Especially when you come off a loss you think about what you've had to overcome in the last couple of years, and this group has played better footy when we've had to overcome those hard obstacles.
"That might be touched on this week, I don't know, but we just need to stay in the here and now and prepare for another physical game because we don't want to get caught dwelling on the weekend or in the past."
"(While) you want to stew on it a bit, and let it burn in your guts a little bit, you also want to move on pretty quick because we've got another chance this week to come up against the Western Bulldogs and hopefully progress to the next round."
Burgoyne felt the ball was in good hands when Smith lined up his fateful shot and, despite the bitter disappointment, expected the bubbly wingman would move on quickly this week.
"He's the type of guy who is lively around the guys and has a lot of energy, so I'd expect that from him and I'd expect everyone to move on because the best thing about finishing in the top four is we get a double chance," he said.
"We don't want to take any of that negative vibes or negative energy into this week against the Western Bulldogs, because if you see the footy they played against West Coast over there we're going to need to be at our best to beat them."
With the pre-finals bye throwing a different element into the September mix this season, Burgoyne was philosophical that playing each week might work to the Hawks' advantage in the hunt for a fourth flag.
Hawthorn hasn't lost consecutive games since early in the 2014 season and will start warm favourites this Friday night at the MCG.
However, Burgoyne accepted most neutrals would be barracking for the underdogs.
"They're pretty much everyone's second-favourite team, because of where they've come from the last couple of years," he said.
"If you remember the game we played against them early on in the year (three-point win in round three), it took us until the last minute to win the game and that's what we're going to expect this week, another tight game.
"We've seen the footy they've played this year – with injuries to their key players as well – they've still come out and played really well and their pressure on the opposition is first class."
If the Hawks can get past the Bulldogs, they will then face a preliminary final against Greater Western Sydney at Spotless Stadium – where they have lost their only two matches.