Changes have to take place after a premiership for a team to contend again.

 

On Saturday, when the Hawks opened their season against the Brisbane Lions, one change was obvious: seven players were missing from last year's Grand Final team.

 

Coincidentally, Hawthorn made exactly the same number of changes between the 2008 Grand Final and round one, 2009 but on that occasion the club bemoaned the absence of key players. 

 

On this occasion, change is seen as a positive, with Clarkson motivated by the challenges the coaching staff will face in the early part of the season.

 

Obviously, most attention will be directed towards how the Hawks' forward line will function post-Buddy.

 

On Saturday against the Lions, Hawthorn kicked 21 goals from 53 entries with Luke Breust becoming a significant target inside the forward line.

 

In the Grand Final, Breust was only a forward target twice but on Saturday he was hit up on seven occasions.

 

It was an indication of the Hawks' versatility that he could assume that role so easily, providing support to Jarryd Roughead and Jack Gunston, who will remain key targets in 2014, and easing the way forward for first-gamer, Tim O'Brien.

 

Breust made the most of the opportunity too, taking four marks inside 50 and kicking five goals straight to cash in on a summer spent working on his set shot kicking.

 

Such is the organic way change is now implemented at Hawthorn that Breust said on Monday he did not expect his role to change too much this season.

 

"[The] trademark of being dangerous is what we're going to live by and we try to do that most weeks," Breust said.

 

That such tinkering is happening without any shift in the fundamentals is a good indication of the quality of the coaching at Hawthorn.

 

Where the forward line ends up remains anyone's guess, including that of the coach, but the attitude of moving towards a solution is the approach successful teams take.

 

Less advanced than the post-Buddy transformation is planning for the post-Mitchell/Sewell era in the midfield; however that also seemed to step up a notch at the weekend.

 

Sewell was out of the team and Mitchell was only present at five of the 40 centre bounces against the Lions.

 

Mitchell attended 15 of 22 centre bounces in the Grand Final.

 

In that dynamic duo's place came Will Langford, who went to 29 centre bounces, and Jonathan Simpkin and Liam Shiels, who each attended 15 centre bounces against the Lions.

 

Langford didn't play in the Grand Final while Shiels was only present at three centre bounces in last year's decider. Simpkin was the substitute in the Grand Final and did not attend any centre bounces while on the ground.

 

On Saturday that trio jumped in on behalf of the elder statesmen and carried more of the load.  

 

Shiels is primed to take on a bigger role in the midfield after 82 games and the coaching group had no hesitation throwing Langford in the middle in his second game.

 

Like gardeners pruning rose bushes, Hawthorn coaches are prepared to strip things back to go forward.

 

The unexpected bonus for Hawthorn is that Ben McEvoy looks likely to slot beautifully into the rucking role Max Bailey vacated when injury forced him into early retirement. That's good list management combined with a bit of luck.

 

Clarkson said after the win against the Lions that the Hawks had spent the past 18 months trying different players in the centre square. 

 

"The way the game is played now you need to have multiple options through various areas of the ground," Clarkson said.

 

The Hawks also have to find someone to take over the kicking-in duties from Brent Guerra, who has retired. Guerra kicked in seven times in the Grand Final but against the Lions, the role was shared between Grant Birchall (four kick-ins), Luke Hodge (three), Mitchell and Matt Suckling (two each) and Isaac Smith and Taylor Duryea (once each).

 

Such a job is not likely to receive a huge number of applications but finding someone to fill it is vital. With so many options being tried, the Hawks will settle on someone eventually.

 

Although it's a small sample size, what round one has demonstrated more than anything is that the Hawks will not be asleep at the wheel during this premiership defence.

 

At some stage Hawthorn will welcome back Ben Stratton, Brian Lake, Cyril Rioli, Ryan Schoenmakers and Sewell but until then it will make the most of the opportunities it gives other players.

And it will continue to try different combinations and ideas to ensure it stays part of the leading pack in the early part of season so it can make a charge when the finish line draws closer.