Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell has conceded his strategic approach to last Saturday’s loss to Melbourne “didn’t work” amid outside criticism of his player development.
The Hawks entered their Round 2 bout against the Demons with a specific focus on controlling possession via uncontested marks as part of an attempt to restrict the intercepting influence of star pair Steven May and Jake Lever.
While Mitchell’s side dominated the uncontested marking and possession tallies — and May and Lever exited the game through injuries — Hawthorn was soundly outduelled by the Demons, going down by 55 points.
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While the Hawks registered more disposals (+23), marks (+10) and uncontested possessions (+30), they lost the inside-50 (-13), tackles (-23) and scoring shots (-10) counts.
Addressing reporters on Thursday, Mitchell conceded strategic defeat and accepted blame for the way his club’s Round 2 loss unfolded.
“As a coach, I didn’t really give the players much chance to (impose) tackle pressure because of the way we went about it,” said Mitchell.
“I think, as a coach, you try and figure out ways to beat teams, and I don’t apologise for that. We got it wrong on the weekend and didn’t give our players a chance.
“By taking 50 marks you can’t tackle, so I think our defensive intent is something that needs to be consistent throughout games, and that’s why Melbourne was so good, and Geelong has been really consistent in that area in the early part of their season.
“So, defensive pressure, defensive intent need to be consistent, but you also need a game style that allows it, and I probably took that away from the players on the weekend, which is one that I got wrong.”
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Speaking on last Sunday’s edition of Fox Footy’s First Crack, two-time North Melbourne premiership player David King unleashed a scathing assessment of the club’s efforts last Saturday, declaring it was a “waste of development minutes” and “disrespectful” to fans.
Mitchell, though, opposed the notion that he’s squandering opportunities to develop his youthful brigade.
“They’re a very coachable group — we didn’t get the strategy right in the planning,” continued Mitchell.
“I don’t agree that it was a waste of development minutes, because playing a different style does actually develop you more quickly, but it’s not something we want to do.
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“We’ve played a really consistent brand, improving over the first two years (of Mitchell’s coaching tenure). We’ve played the odd quarter or the odd part of a game with a bit of a different game style to try and unpack some opposition, and some of that has worked and some of it hasn’t.
“Every team in the competition adds tweaks to their game style. We weren’t able to do it (effectively). It wasn’t a good plan, it didn’t work.
“Melbourne was too good for us when we tried to play that way, and when we went back to more of a traditional type of play for us, we were more competitive for a longer period of time, which is good learning for all of us — coaches included.”
The next challenge for Mitchell’s Hawks comes on Easter Monday in the form of arch-rival Geelong at the MCG.
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