WEST Coast coach Adam Simpson put it down to a lack of "resolve and persistence" and he is partly right.

The Eagles came to the MCG on Sunday evening with the opportunity to perform the last rites on Hawthorn's season and to put their own travelling demons to bed.

However they failed dismally on both counts and after the 51-point loss to the Hawks, it is hard not to revisit the words written here this time last year about the club's road woes. 

One difference this year is that it is not so much when the boarding pass is placed in the players' hands as they step on to the plane, because West Coast already has a win in Victoria – against North Melbourne in round one – to its name. 

It is more about the MCG vista that appears through the window of the team bus as it makes its way down Brunton Avenue that seems to spook them.

That's four losses – including two this year – at the MCG from their past five trips to the home not just of football but significantly, of most finals played in Victoria, not just the Grand Final. The pressure the Hawks brought with them on Sunday was terrific, and Simpson, a former assistant coach at that club, knew better than most what was coming after consecutive 86-point defeats. Hence his disappointment that too many of his players simply didn't stand up. 

But whatever power Hawthorn packed on Sunday, it was only a fraction of what may come in September and for that reason, a question mark will be sitting over the Eagles over the next 20 weeks. As well as they play at home, and even if they can pull out a few more wins on the road – which they probably will – they will have convinced nobody of their premiership credentials until they deliver a win at the MCG, and it will have to be during the finals because they don't play there again between now and September.

Flat-track bullies? The Eagles will bristle at the suggestion, but at this stage, there is not enough evidence on the table for us to think otherwise.

Have boarding pass, will crumble. How this column sold its message a year ago. 

Bolton's clear message helps Blues dodge the heat

Carlton stunk up the joint on Friday night. A 90-point loss to Port Adelaide made for awful viewing in the most prized footy timeslot of the week.

But what you likely won't find is the skewering of the Blues, as we have of say, Hawthorn in the past fortnight. What we in the AFL commentariat like nothing more than is the smell of blood in the water, and up Royal Parade, there is none.

The Hawthorn malaise has been more tantalising for the media. The Hawks have fallen of the cliff – more suddenly than anyone could have expected. And because the Hawks have yet to enunciate a plan as to how to go forward from here, the screaming headlines and hours of radio talkback will continue.  As we've seen the last fortnight, all it takes is for two bad defeats for the AFL media to demand of a club, "You're broken. What are you going to do about it? What's your trade strategy?"

Your views: Why it's all gone wrong for the Hawks

And if the clubs don't have an immediate answer, or choose not to outline it in public, then there are, say about 1000 members of the AFL accredited media, who would be happy to do it for them, as the headlines of the last fortnight would seem to indicate.

Hawks coach Alastair Clarkson branded much of it as "hysteria" in what was, at times, an animated pre-match media conference on Saturday ahead of the win against West Coast. The Blues, because of the clarity of their message, will be largely immune from much of the same.

The Blues have been clear from the start. There is a plan in place to play the kids and with that there will come some pain. The result was a foregone conclusion from the time they got on the plane, with veterans Matthew Kreuzer and Dale Thomas left behind. The third quarter on Friday night, in which the Power outscored the Blues 6.10 to nothing and had the 24-2 edge in inside 50s, tells you all you need to know about the gulf in talent and experience.

Carlton had six first-year players and three more playing just their second season. They're the 'sprouts' that coach Brendon Bolton keeps telling us about. The message from the Blues has been consistent from the day Bolton walked through the door, so apart from a few pleas to keep them off Friday nights until they're a bit more competitive, that's where the commentary about where Carlton is at will start and end. 

Brendon Bolton hasn't wavered in his message to the Blues. Picture: AFL Photos

Swans under the microscope?

Perhaps it is time to put the heat on Sydney. The team that took to the SCG against the Giants on Saturday night seemed much more familiar with Kurt Tippett, Isaac Heeney and Gary Rohan in the side for the first time this year. 

The Swans couldn't get them back quickly enough into a winless side and the Swans opened the derby game with four goals before the Giants even touched the ball. It was a remarkable start, which made what happened after even more extraordinary – the next nine goals all to the Giants and finally, a 42-point win, the same as last year's qualifying final.

WATCH: Swans kick four before Giants get a touch

Sydney (the city) really is, as the Giants bragged on social media on Saturday night, orange and charcoal. A win at the SCG was the final hurdle for the Giants to overcome and they did so in style. And amid all the talk about Eddie Betts now being the best small forward in the competition, can Toby Greene at least join in the conversation? He jagged a lazy four goals on Saturday night and Giants-watchers will tell you he's playing better footy so far this year than last when he made the All Australian team.

But what of the Swans? In all of their five losses there have been patches of good footy, but the problem is sustaining it for more than a few minutes here or there. The three players brought in didn't do a whole lot and hopefully will be better for the run. 

Yet such is the respect for the Swans that we're diving into the record books looking for precedents of a 0-5 team making the finals. Collingwood did so in 1959 so we can't and won't rule out the Swans, but the more likely inspiration for Sydney might be the 2010 Hawthorn side that started 1-6 and still featured in the finals.

The window for the Swans is tiny, but with Carlton, the Brisbane Lions and North Melbourne in the next three weeks they can climb off the canvas and get their season going. But their margin for error from now is almost zero.

Isaac Heeney failed to have much impact in his first game of the season. Picture: AFL Photos

Other observations

1. Three certainties: Death, taxes and North losing the close ones. It happened again on Saturday night as Fremantle's Michael Johnson and Shane Kersten kicked late goals to steal a five-point win and consign the Kangas to their third straight loss of less than a goal so far this year. That's now 15 losses in one-goal games out of 19 in the Brad Scott era. We're not privy of course to the internal machinations at the Kangaroos, but how fascinating would it be to be part of the Monday review meeting at Arden Street as Scott breaks down the last two and a half minutes. Did the structures remain in place? Were team rules were broken? You would imagine someone strayed from the script if they gave up a seven-point lead in about 90 seconds of football.

2. Still, if we're not giving up on the Swans yet then nor should we on the Kangaroos, who should open their account at home to Gold Coast on Saturday night. And if there's any small consolation, Taylor Garner might have the Mark of the Year in his safekeeping after his monstrous leap against the Dockers.

3. It is hard to think of a more unlikely set of circumstances for Fremantle to snatch the win over North Melbourne. Johnson doesn't get forward of centre much any more and not since 2013 has he kicked more than one goal in a season. So that was unusual, as was the manner of Kersten's match-winner. So often the last few minutes of one-kick games features stoppage after stoppage, scrum after scrum. Yet this one was fast and open until the very end, including a hair-raising few moments where the ball was played just centimetres from the boundary line with both teams doing their best not to keep the ball from crossing the line lest they be pinged for deliberate out of bounds. The rules committee would point to that passage of play as justification they're doing something right.

WATCH: The thrilling final minutes of Frem v NM

4. Three-quarter time at Etihad Stadium on Sunday was another of those games in which Geelong needed to "break glass in case of emergency and call 'Dangerwood'" and once again the caped crusaders of Kardinia Park came to the rescue. Joel Selwood was magnificent all day, to be truthful, and his 43 disposals were equal to his career best, recorded in a 186-point thrashing of Melbourne in 2011. Throw in nine tackles and a goal and he was the standout for the afternoon. Patrick Dangerfield lifted with two last-quarter goals as Geelong kicked 8.4 to 1.3 to turn a five-point deficit into a 38-point win that nobody saw coming after three tight and tough quarters till then. That was Geelong's best win of the year so far and at 5-0, they're the real deal. The Saints now head to Tassie at 2-3 to face the resurgent Hawthorn. It cannot be overstated what a huge game that now is.

5. And what sparked the Hawthorn turnaround? Well, it helps when about 14 players turned in their best games for the season and in some cases, their careers. There were no passengers in the brown and gold for a change, however three Hawks deserve particular mention. Ben McEvoy, with 43 hit-outs and four contested marks, was outstanding in the ruck. Cyril Rioli was finally, well, Cyril with his feverish work off the ball and sublime work with it, including a mark-of-the-week contender, although as we noted earlier, North's Taylor Garner might have him covered. And key forward Tim O'Brien backed in the coach's confidence after last week's shocker with the most imposing of his 20 games yet. He wears the No.23 for Hawthorn and perhaps for the first time, he truly earned it.

6. If Robbie Gray can kick five goals and play as he did for Port Adelaide against the Blues on Friday night then it begs the question of how well he might have gone had he not been battling groin soreness for much of the season to date. Gray is one of the more watchable players in the competition and the aforementioned average ratings for the Carlton game might have been further affected had he not put on a show.

WATCH: Robbie's remarkable third quarter

7. The Brisbane Lions nearly played the spoiler on Saturday afternoon. Apparently it was Bob Murphy's 300th game for the Bulldogs (they kept that one quiet!) but the Lions were outstanding for three quarters and never mind their win over Gold Coast in round one, this was their best performance of the season. It was another scratchy win to the Bulldogs and they would be satisfied with their 4-1 start to the season, but the Giants in Canberra on Friday night will give us the best indication yet of how the premiership defence is tracking and whether they're as "vulnerable" as their coach seems to indicate.