With the AFL season turned completely upside down by the COVID-19 crisis, Kane Cornes believes the opportunity is there for a team that may not have necessarily been in the premiership window to steal a flag.
In particular, the former Port Adelaide midfielder looks at Hawthorn as a team that might not have been in the upper echelon, but could adjust to the circumstances better than the rest.
“While it won’t look the same, there’s a massive opportunity for one team to perhaps sneak a flag in,” Cornes told SEN’s The Captain's Run.
“If there’s one team that I think can do it, it’s Hawthorn.
“I didn’t even have Hawthorn in my eight prior to this year. I just didn’t think it was setup for them.
“With what is going on now, the way that they are setup, the coach that they’ve got, the playing group, I think Hawthorn can steal a premiership this year and what a story that would be.”
Cornes said having the best coach in the game in Alastair Clarkson coupled with a mature playing group could be the recipe that elevates the Hawks above in these circumstances.
“I think Clarko has had 10 or 11 weeks to plot a game plan. You think Clarkson isn’t going to come with something different?” he said.
“When all these teams are playing wide down the boundary line like Richmond and Collingwood have been doing, playing it safe down the boundary, I reckon Clarko is going to come up with something that is innovative, that is more attacking.
“Wins early will be crucial and I think they can do that and score on the board in the first quarter with these shorter quarters is going to be crucial and I just think the mature nature of the Hawthorn playing group, it’s not going to take them as long to get fit.
“I’m not saying they’re going to win it, but they’re going to be a big beneficiary of the uncertainty.
“I had them nowhere near a flag this year, but I reckon it has opened it up to some other clubs.”
Hawthorn got their season off to the best possible start in Round 1, defeating a 2019 top four team in Brisbane at the MCG by 28 points.