Glen Jakovich can’t see Hawthorn making the eight in 2021, as they look to bounce back from successive years missing out on finals football.
The Hawks finished 15th last year, falling away dramatically after a strong opening month of the season.
Jakovich feels their list is still transitioning into a rebuilding phase and not quite in finals contention.
“Hawthorn’s list is still in transition for me. They’ve missed the finals the last two years and I predict them to miss it again in season 2021,” he told Sportsday WA.
“They recruited in Tom Phillips from Collingwood and Kyle Hartigan from Adelaide, who looks like a beast in the pre-season.
“Their ruck stocks are really depleted. Ben McEvoy has been a warhorse and a great player, Jon Patton off three knee reconstructions, can he play forward or in the ruck? Jon Ceglar’s just a battler.
“It all comes from a dominant ruckman that can get it to Jaeger O’Meara, Liam Shiels, James Worpel won their best and fairest a couple of years ago, Tom Mitchell coming back from that broken leg, Tom Scully and Tom Phillips, so the midfield is solid.
“Their forwards, Chad Wingard is another player who has come from another club, but has been inconsistent.
“They’ve got a tough draw. They play Essendon first, then Richmond, Geelong, Freo (in Perth), then Melbourne and the Crows.
“They’ve got to get off to a good start. If they get some injuries, they’re going to struggle.
“I’ve got them finishing anywhere between ninth and 14th.”
Jakovich, an assistant coach with the AFL Academy, is excited about a few of Hawthorn’s youngsters.
“Look out for a couple of players. Conor Nash, he’s certainly very quick and exciting. Finn Maginness and then you’ve got Damon Greaves who’s a West Australian boy and Jacob Koschitzke, I like this kid, he’s the cousin of Justin and he’s a big unit and a big body,” he said.
Hawthorn player just yelled at training “If we don’t want another sh$t year like last year, let’s do something about it!” @HawthornFC mean business.
— Corey Norris (@coreynorris9) January 10, 2021