Jordan Lewis has called on Hawthorn to focus on the future and use the remainder of 2020 to get games into younger players.
The Hawks have slumped to 15th on the ladder having lost four games in a row and now must travel to Western Australia for the next block of the fixture.
Alastair Clarkson has brought in the likes of Will Day and Josh Morris in recent weeks, but Lewis wants to see more youngsters given an opportunity in what is currently the oldest team in the competition.
“I think Clarko alluded to it a little bit in his press conference, saying we may need to look at youth and that’s the first time I’ve heard him say that this year, but they have to,” the four-time premiership Hawk told SEN Breakfast.
“If they’re not going to make finals and Clarko basically said after the game that that is out of reach for them, then how are they preparing themselves for next year and the year beyond that. The only way is to play youth.
“You’ve got to look at who they can bring in, (Finn) Maginness is the one you hear a bit about and he has some potential so you’ve probably got to play him and other young kids coming through.
“It just doesn’t seem right to stick with the same formula that you’ve got at the moment without the carrot of playing finals this year. They need to look at building young players for the foreseeable future.”
Hawthorn has a short turnaround this week, taking on Carlton this Friday night.