we had nine players under the age of 22 years. Look at the stats on games played average age etc which stats were posted in this thread.Really?
One of the youngest teams in the comp went from 17th on the ladder after Round 7 all the way to a Semi Final. They've been playing virtual Elimination Finals for the past 2 months. They won 15 of their last 20 games in great style without any recognised superstars, but with an incredibly even team effort across the board.
Last week, in front of an MCG crowd of 98,000, they won convincingly versus a highly-fancied Western Bulldogs team who many were tipping to win the flag.
They travelled to South Australia to play a pumped-up Port Adelaide team who finished 2nd on the ladder and who threw the kitchen sink at them for 4 quarters. I don't have the stats, but I'm guessing it was Port's best game of the season in terms of pressure index and tough tackling over 4 quarters.
Port managed to shut down the Hawks running game and led by 3 goals halfway through the final quarter.
Did the Hawks turn up their toes and concede defeat? Did the Hawks find it all "too hard" and surrender meekly once the opposition and home crowd sensed victory? Nope... Hawthorn fought the game out to the final whistle. They almost pinched victory in the final 2-3 minutes with 2 set shots that went agonisingly close.
This is the exact opposite to showing a "soft underbelly". Teams with a soft underbelly get pumped in September. Or they fold like a house of cards and let games slip after leading by 44 points. Hawthorn went down swinging in an away final and lost by 3 points without some key personnel. I personally think they showed a lot of character, grit and toughness this season.
But enough of the actual footy talk. Let's focus instead on the irrelevant crap... Maybe in the immediate aftermath of defeat, they got sucked in by the Hinkley gloating and they defended their teammate and displayed their bitter disappointment at being knocked out of the premiership race.
If that's called having a "soft underbelly" then please sign us up for some more...