Hawks pick apart tight AFL win

Hawthorn have taken a hard look at their AFL win over the Western Bulldogs, with Sam Mitchell saying it has alarm bells ringing.

Likewise, the Hawks are making sure youngster James Sicily is not becoming too cocky after his last-quarter heroics.

Hawthorn’s wins over West Coast and the Bulldogs have shown their campaign for an historic fourth-straight premiership is on track.

But the Hawks are such a great side because they take nothing for granted and Mitchell said a lot did not go right in Sunday’s three-point win.

“Sometimes you have that risk of just putting that one away and saying ‘we’re lucky to win, move on’,” he said.

“But we’ve actually had quite a good look at the game, to figure out what happened and ways to try and get through that.

“We didn’t play anywhere near our best footy – we’re going to have to play better than that to win consistently across the year.”

Sicily starred on Sunday with three last-quarter goals, including the match winner.

Mitchell was the first teammate to congratulate him after Sicily kicked the sealer.

The young Hawk is already well-known for his abundant confidence and Mitchell said Sicily was not being allowed to bask too much in his latest achievement.

“He always walks around a little bit like that, but that’s where footy clubs are really great places,” Mitchell said.

“As soon as you get one foot further in front of yourself than where it should be, a footy club is a really good place to bring you back down to earth.

“There’s plenty of review going on about things that he didn’t do as well as we would have liked.”

The Hawks host St Kilda on Saturday in Launceston, a week after the Saints pulled Collingwood apart.

Captain Luke Hodge is probably another week away from resuming after fracturing his arm in round one.

Mitchell joked that his hard-nosed skipper would have minimal say on when he plays again.

“Hodgey thought he could play while he was having the surgery I think,” Mitchell said.

“The medical staff, clearly they don’t take Hodgey’s opinion into consideration at all, which is probably the right way to go about it.”

Stay up to date with the latest sports news
Follow our social accounts to get exclusive content and all the latest sporting news!