Flag focus unwavering for red-hot Hawks
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Room for improvement... Hawks coach Alastair Clarkson. (Getty Images: Quinn Rooney, file photo)
Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson says his players must be prepared to do whatever it takes during this month's AFL finals series to secure a place in the 2008 grand final.
The Hawks thrashed the third-placed Western Bulldogs by 51 points in the opening qualifying final on Friday night in front of more than 76,000 people at the MCG.
Eight goals from Lance Franklin and four from Michael Osborne lifted the Hawks to an 18.19 (127) to 11.10 (76) victory which secured a preliminary final berth.
Read a full report from Friday night's match here.
Clarkson says Hawthorn is determined to continue improving and maintain an intense focus towards the end of September.
"I still like to think we can improve our footy on what we produced tonight," he said.
"I know that may sound a little silly because we were really pleased with our effort, but finals footy quite often isn't won by the team that plays the most attractive brand of footy, it's usually won by sides who are just generally hard and tough."
Key defender Trent Croad is the only concern for the Hawks after he was unable to return after half-time with a foot injury.
Hawthorn's Stuart Dew says the players are not getting too excited so early in the finals series at the risk of becoming complacent.
"No one remembers in a couple of months who won the first final so [it's] very much a business type attitude," he said.
"We'll probably enjoy the win tonight and talk about it and next week move on."
Soul searching
Meanwhile Bulldogs coach Rodney Eade says his side must regain its confidence before next Friday's knock-out semi-final.
Eade says he is a loss to explain the humiliating loss to the Hawks.
"It was just the mistakes we made - we fiddled around with the ball, we mucked around with it, which was something that we didn't practice this week," he said.
"[That's] obviously against the grain of what we normally play so that was very disappointing but this group has got a chance and that's why we finished third - we get a double chance."
Eade also aired concerns over the manner in which senior Bulldogs handled the big occasion, and expects some serious soul searching to take place this week.
"There's a few players really individually [that] have got some responsibility, have got to answer some questions," he said.
"A player like Matthew Boyd who's been such a good player, I've never seen him fumble and make basic errors like he did tonight.
"I mean he's one of our leaders and it's not through lack of effort with him because he's such a hard worker - you just don't know whether it's just being overawed by the situation."
