COACH Paul Roos says there is “nothing fancy” about Hawthorn – it’s simply a highly-consistent team that produces over and over again.
Speaking in the lead-up to this Saturday’s clash against the Hawks at the MCG, Roos said the brown and gold was “one of the best, if not the best” team in the competition as it executes the fundamentals every week.
“They just do what’s expected of them – every single player. They’ve got some real confidence in each other,” he said on Roos’ Views.
“Clearly we’re a long way from them and the success they’ve had over the last five or six years, compared to where we’ve been.
“That’s really the message to the players.”
Reflecting on last round’s disappointing 23-point loss to the Brisbane Lions at Etihad Stadium, Roos said the way his team capitulated was the most frustrating aspect.
“We were disappointed with the game and that’s no disrespect to Brisbane, because we’re probably at the same stages and we’ve both got young, developing teams,” he said.
“I know [Brisbane Lions coach] Justin [Leppitsch] is probably disappointed as well as it was a pretty poor standard game of footy for both teams.
“The fact that we were 14 points up and conceded the last six goals [was disappointing] – that’s been a bit of a pattern this year.
“That’s something we’ve talked about this week – trying to set standards as a footy club and standards that have got to go for 120 minutes, not just 110 minutes, which has probably happened a few times this year as well.”
Roos said the players had picked themselves back up for this clash against the Hawks and were determined to bounce back with a competitive effort.
“They’re an incredibly resilient group, given what they’ve been through for a long period of time and we’ve only won four games this year,” he said.
“Monday to Friday, they are pretty good. They are pretty upbeat and they train really, really well.
“The biggest thing is taking away the fear of Saturday and the fear of losing. The message is ‘guys, just play football to the best of your ability and the result is going to look after itself, regardless of who you play’.
“Hawthorn is a very, very big challenge, but for us, it’s four weeks in a journey that’s going to take some time to get there – and that’s the way we’ve got to look at it.”