HAWTHORN’S 33-point defeat at the hands of Brisbane came on the back of "fundamental" skill errors and "wasted opportunities" according to a disgruntled Alastair Clarkson, who said his players "lost spirit and faith" in their system during the upset loss in Launceston.
It was the fourth time this season the Hawks lost a game despite recording more forward entries than their opposition and Clarkson was clearly frustrated at his side’s inability to make the most of its chances around goal, particularly during the first half on Saturday.
"We just wasted so many chances and they were able to capitalise upon their chances better than we were," he said.
LIONS UPSET HAWKS Full match coverage and stats
"We should have been able to put some sort of margin between the two sides at half-time. Then it was a tale of woe in the second half. We couldn’t take our chances when we went forward, still similar inside 50m opportunities, but we couldn’t take our chances going forward and Brisbane could take theirs.
"In the end we lost spirit and faith in the way that we wanted to play and that’s why they were able to run away with the game."
Having entered round 17 off a three-week period that had seen them ranked second in terms of scoring across the AFL, Clarkson blamed a mix of skill errors and poor decision making for the Hawks’ inefficiency going forward against a resurgent Lions outfit.
"Some of it is just fundamental skills under heat, in terms of being able to make a good opportunity turn into a goal scoring chance for us," he said.
"We just didn’t hit the body hard enough, or overran a ground ball or gave hands but didn’t hit a target. We just made some dreadful blunders and some of those ended up being two-goal swings.
"The amount of opportunities we had going inside 50 and just butchered the footy either by foot or by running over a ground ball, what looks like being a goal-scoring opportunity for us turns into a coast-to-coast opportunity for the opposition."
PRE-MATCH ROUTINE A WINNER Five talking points
While Hawthorn shaded the forward entries by 55-51, Brisbane was able to do more scoring on the rebound and Clarkson expressed frustration on behalf of his defenders who found themselves under siege for much of the second half as the Lions ran away with the contest.
WATCH Alastair Clarkson's full post-match media conference
"Somehow it goes from being in our hands to theirs and our blokes are just slightly caught off guard because they’re thinking ‘we’ve got the chocolates here (and) this is going through for a goal’ and all of a sudden it’s coming back straight in their face and that’s really poor play for us and I felt sorry for our defenders at different stages today because we got the ball inside 50 more times than Brisbane and deserved to kick more than nine goals.
"Sometimes two-v-one forward of the ball on crucial balls and we can’t turn that into a goalscoring opportunity for us. That is something that has been our strength for a long, long period of time but was sadly lacking today."
The Hawks face Carlton next weekend in a match they will be heavily favoured to win, and which represents a potential opportunity to boost percentage if they can return to the kind of scoring form that has seen them averaging 100 points per match in the past three weeks.
