INTRODUCING talented youngsters into Hawthorn's line-up is going to be one of the club's biggest challenges as it aims for a fourth consecutive premiership, according to coach Alastair Clarkson.
Seven players who did not play in last year's Grand Final helped the Hawks to a 46-point win over West Coast on Sunday.
James Sicily played his best game for the Hawks with four goals, bouncing back from just five disposals on Easter Monday, while Jonathon O'Rourke had just two more disposals than he had six days earlier but his contribution was much bigger.
Daniel Howe, Angus Litherland and Billy Hartung were also solid as the Hawks reminded the Eagles that a significant gap still exists between the two teams.
WATCH: Sicily shines in Hawks' win
Clarkson said he was prepared to show faith in the youngsters as they developed into consistent players.
"They are ready to play and they are ready to make their mark and we saw some good solid contributions from them today," Clarkson said.
"But that will be a challenge getting the amount of games into them so they have genuine belief that they can do it on a consistent basis."
WATCH: Alastair Clarkson's full post-match media conference
Clarkson said he could live with the inevitable ups and downs in performances from the youngsters, but the more experienced players needed to maintain their high performance consistently if the Hawks are going to be regular winners.
"As long as our more senior players can play with a level of consistency we can cope with the ups and downs of our younger guys, but when our younger guys don't have such a good day and our older guys don't it's really tough," Clarkson said.
Not one to hand out praise easily, Clarkson described Josh Gibson's 44 disposals and one goal as a 'solid contribution' although it's hard to imagine how the veteran defender could have played any better.
He set the tone with 17 first-quarter disposals, but Clarkson said the two-time club champion was the beneficiary of solid performances from Hawthorn's defenders in each of their respective roles.
At Hawthorn they call being the beneficiary of someone else's good work getting 'a lick of the ice cream' but Gibson, and Mitchell for that matter with 37 touches, would have had an ice cream headache given the amount of licks they had during the game.
Gibson even topped off his day with his first goal in Hawthorn colours, a moment that the hard nuts in the coach's box admitted gave them some pleasure.
"We were pretty excited," Clarkson said.
"I don't think we were as excited as Gibbo. It's been a long-time coming."
As have the opportunities for Hawthorn youngsters, with the silver lining of injuries to Jarryd Roughead, Luke Hodge, Liam Shiels and Brad Hill being the chance it gives Clarkson to set his team up for the future.
"You need to get these lads to 30 or 40 games as quickly as you can and when we can do that we will be better placed with the contributions that they can make," Clarkson said.
