Garry Lyon has rated Hawthorn’s come-from-behind win over Carlton as one of the best performances of the 2020 season to date.
The Hawks conceded the first five goals to the Blues at Optus Stadium on Saturday before kicking 14 of the next 18 to win by 31 points, bringing to a halt a four-game losing streak in the process.
Alastair Clarkson’s side had been devoid of confidence heading into the game, which would have only taken more of a hit at quarter time, but the Hawks managed to fight back with a free-flowing brand which impressed Lyon.
“You could see it within the group. Confidence, you can’t measure it from a stat, but it was like a light went on and the penny dropped again,” he said on SEN Breakfast.
“There was a reminder of what it was when they did play that way and how they became hard to defend and how much more potent they became in attack when they took the game on.
“As the game wore on, it seemed to dawn on everyone, ‘Ah, that’s what we’re going to do’. It went right throughout the whole side. They thought, well, when we do play in this manner and when we do take a bit of a risk through the middle of the ground then we can all get on board.
“They became irrepressible in the end. Confidence for a team like Hawthorn, you don’t think (about) because they’ve had such great success over the years, but was clearly lacking.
“But they got a reminder in-game. At five goals to none down and to turn it around was one of the performances of the year I think.”
Four-time Hawthorn premiership player Jordan Lewis said the victory was made possible by a mixture of a change of personnel - with Luke Breust, Jarman Impey and Jon Ceglar back in the side - and the absolute need to play in a different manner after a number of subpar performances in a row.
“You bring in some quality players and Ceglar comes back into the ruck,” he said.
“For me, a lot of sides who aren’t going that well become quite defensive, that’s just the natural instinct I suppose.
“You become more defensively focused with how you defend but also how you move the ball. What we saw on the weekend, after quarter time, Hawthorn just came out with the attitude to go, ‘Well, we can’t play any worse, they’ve got a run-on, we actually need to start moving the ball and giving ourselves opportunities’.
“What happens? You open up the other side of the ground, you play a different way than you’ve played in the last month and you give your forwards opportunities. There’s no surprise that (Jack) Gunston, Breust and Chad Wingard, who has been good all year, that they come into the game.
“(Tom) Scully started to come into the game after quarter time because the ball movement was to the open side of the ground which allowed them to use their strengths.
“They were shell-shocked because Carlton were on fire but Hawthorn, to their credit, they just played a different way (to how they started).”
The 13th-placed Hawks will look to improve their 4-5 record when they are next in action against Fremantle at Optus Stadium next Monday following their Round 10 bye.