COMPARISONS between Hawthorn's 2017 side and the club's 2013-15 premiership three-peat are pointless, according to coach Alastair Clarkson.
The Hawks host Gold Coast at the MCG on Saturday, with the Suns one of four teams to inflict 50-plus point beltings on the former competition powerhouse this season.
Hawthorn suffered three losses of at least 75 points – including the 86-point defeat to the Suns – in a four-week period between rounds three and six, as well as losing from 43 points up against Collingwood in round nine.
Then came last week's disaster against Port Adelaide, where Hawthorn failed to score in the first quarter and managed a club-worst three behinds in the opening half for a 59-point deficit.
"We've been inconsistent and people are comparing us to our standards, but our side is very, very different," Clarkson said on Friday.
"There are a lot of personnel changes on the field and a lot of personnel changes off the field (and) that doesn't click all at one time.
"So we'll just keep working our way through it. We can't win it every year and it's going to be really tough for us this year.
"Obviously, our form hasn't been anywhere near what we'd like."
Premiership stars Jordan Lewis (Melbourne), Sam Mitchell (West Coast) and Bradley Hill (Fremantle) all joined rival clubs in the off-season, with Tom Mitchell (Sydney), Jaeger O’Meara (Gold Coast), Ty Vickery (Richmond) and Ricky Henderson (Adelaide) arriving at Waverley Park.
The Hawks dropped Vickery for the second time this season on Thursday night, along with second-gamer Dallas Willsmore, with Tim O’Brien and Will Langford replacing them in the side for the Gold Coast clash.
"He's a forward and he's kicked two goals in six games, so we need a better return," Clarkson said of Vickery.
"Timmy O'Brien was actually playing pretty well prior to him getting a little bit of a hip complaint about three or four weeks ago … but had Ty been playing the sort of footy we want him to play, he would have maintained his spot in the side.
"He hasn't been as good as we'd like, so we'll see if Tim can be a bit better in that regard."
Clarkson has turned to a series of younger players, such as Rising Star contender Ryan Burton, Blake Hardwick, Daniel Howe, Kaiden Brand, James Sicily, Teia Miles, Willsmore and James Cousins, to try to spark his side into action.
But he said that process meant matches like last week, where veterans Luke Hodge and Josh Gibson were among those to wilt under pressure, would occur more often in the short term.
"If you watched Hawthorn a lot over the course of the last four or five years; Sam Mitchell, Jordan Lewis, Luke Hodge, Josh Gibson – all those players – made errors like that when they were playing in those games as well," Clarkson said.
"But collectively, we just made fewer of those errors, and the problem is if 'Hodgey's' making two or three of them and everyone else is making two or three of them, then they add up.
"The collective of our group has meant we haven't made as many in the past as what we've made now, but that's going to happen when you've got some younger players in your side and the dynamic of your group changes a bit."
