Hawthorn’s physical play last year was a standout characteristic of its premiership season, but that level of aggression has not been emulated so far this year.
Speaking at Waverley Park on Monday morning, Hodge said turnovers, not a lack of physicality, had cost the Hawks in 2009.
“I thought the boys were very physical at the weekend,” Hodge said of Saturday night's 20-point loss to the West Coast Eagles.
“There were a lot of costly turnovers that we did, but compared to hardness at the ball and how physical we were, I thought we did that pretty well. But it’s really turnovers that do hurt in football.
"Poor decision-making at certain times cost us, and West Coast took their chances. They scored six goals from turnovers in our defensive 50, which is always going to hurt.”
The Hawks sit outside the top eight on percentage, and while their chances of making the finals are slowly slipping away, Hodge is confident his side can turn its season around.
“We’re full of confidence that we can come out and play consistent football as we’ve shown in the past. It’s going to start this weekend against the Bulldogs, and we’re going to be out there having a crack at it. It’s really going to show where we’re at, because the Bulldogs are up in the top three teams this year,” Hodge said.
“It’s been an up-and-down season for a lot of teams. I think if you look five weeks ago, Collingwood and Adelaide were 3-5, and the media was starting to count them out. They’ve played some good football over the last five weeks and turned to 8-5. Four or five weeks in footy is a long time, and that’s all we’re focused on.”
In injury news, Hawthorn forward Mark Williams will have scans in the next 24 hours to determine the severity of a knee injury he sustained in the loss to West Coast, while ruckman Brent Renouf will be assessed this week after he sprained his ankle during a VFL game at the weekend.
