Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell made no apologies for his spray of defender Jack Scrimshaw at quarter-time of his side’s eventual Round 7 loss to Sydney.
The Hawks went on to a 76-point defeat at the hands of second-placed Sydney, but found themselves in the game early until the Swans booted four goals in a short period before the first break, including the final one courtesy of a Scrimshaw turnover in the middle of the ground.
Mitchell was then captured on the broadcast berating the 25-year-old and told Fox Footy what was said.
“Just that we’re past that,” Mitchell told the broadcast at the first break of his interaction with Scrimshaw.
“We conceded three goals really quickly, then we’re going for big, risky kicks when the instruction was the opposite.”
Scrimshaw responded to be among his side’s best, recording 21 possessions at 85 per cent efficiency while clunking nine marks.
The margin makes it Hawthorn’s biggest loss in an already underwhelming season. But in what Mitchell labelled a “strange game”, he couldn’t question his players' effort.
“The margin is worse than the Gold Coast game (53 points) but ... if you watched it without a scoreboard, you would have said the brown and gold boys are having a crack,” Mitchell said.
Many of the Hawks’ best players have struggled for form in 2024, but in another sign that Mitchell’s system is holding up despite, Hawthorn had the better of many major stats.
Mitchell’s mob were well up in contested possessions, won the clearance count and had the better of inside 50s for much of the contest.
The third-year coach put the result down to Sydney’s impressive 18.10 (118) return in front of goal, while Hawthorn could only manage 5.12 (42).
“I remember looking at the stats halfway through the third quarter. We were winning the inside 50s, we were well in front in contested possessions, winning the front-half turnovers and we were 70 points down,” Mitchell said.
“And it shows how potent they were in front of goal and how well they defended.
“I think they went at 88 per cent scores per entry in the second quarter and we were in the teens.
“Their potency and the system that they use and how well-drilled they are taught us a bit of a lesson today.
“They’re a very, very good side. They’re in the top couple of teams in the competition for a reason.
“I looked at our pressure and the effort and the contest was actually OK for us, but they just put enormous amount of pressure on us ... we just couldn’t withstand their heat today.
“We fuelled a lot of their game, the way that we turned the ball over ... and they were able to put us to the sword.”
However, Mitchell denied that the poor goal kicking effort was a result of a lack of training, saying: “I feel like we can’t train it more”.
Only twice this season has Hawthorn kicked more goals than points in a game.
The Hawks play the Western Bulldogs and St Kilda in the coming fortnight and currently sit 17th with a percentage of just 69.9.