Terry Wallace believes the end of the Hawthorn era is upon us after the Hawks were comprehensively beaten by Essendon on Saturday night.
It was the club’s fifth loss in its past seven matches dating back to Round 20 last year, and has many footy fans asking whether they are capable of repeating the feats of recent seasons.
“It will be hard-pressed for them to turn this around,” the former Richmond and Western Bulldogs coach said on SEN’s Hungry For Sport.
“I know we’re one game in; I know they were playing against a very emotional (Essendon).
“I go back to last year’s final (against the Bulldogs) – they had 11 goals kicked on them in a row at one stage through that latter part of the second quarter, into the third quarter.
“Again through the middle of the ground through run and spread, they look slow. They really do look slow.”
Wallace said that even if Jordan Lewis and Sam Mitchell were in the Hawthorn line-up on Saturday night, they still wouldn’t have beaten the Bombers.
“(But) they would have (been) a heck of a lot better chance of beating the Bombers with those two players in, than with those two players out.”
The decision to move on the two champions has caused much debate over summer, and has only been intensified by the starring performances of both in their debuts at their respective new clubs on the weekend, but Wallace says that the Hawks must have something in particular in mind with their list management strategy moving forward.
“I don’t know whether there is a grander plan involved here,” he said.
“Are they going after a big fish at the end of this year?
“Remember they didn’t have any draft picks last year – they came into the draft at pick 70 or whatever it was.
“They’ve got no draft picks next year again, which suggests to me that if they are going to add anything to this group, it has to be through a free-agent because they’ve got nothing to shuffle around to trade with.
“If they are doing that and its part of the grander plan and it’s a Nat Fyfe or a Dustin Martin, I can understand that’s what they’ve done.
“I think what they were doing was freeing up (salary cap) space so that the next wave could come through. (They are after) someone solid.”