Hawthorn captain Ben McEvoy has been suitably impressed by his side’s start to season 2022.
The Hawks are 2-0 on the back of a crushing 64-point win over Port Adelaide in Adelaide on Saturday night which has them sitting pretty on top of the ladder.
Despite the winning start, McEvoy joked that the Hawks may need to “simmer down” a little bit, but did highlight what he was most pleased with in the massive win over the Power.
“It is a nice start to the year, but it’s only round two so we probably just need to simmer down a bit,” he said on SEN Breakfast.
“A young group like we’ve got, it’s really pleasing to get some reward and to build that belief early in the year. It’s nice.
“I was really impressed with how calm and organised everything was on the weekend, without too much fuss, even when things changed in the game.
“I think we’ve got some old heads on young shoulders out there and we just seem to have clicked really well.
“That’s always a challenge. We’ve got 18 blokes on the field at any one time, it’s more numbers than any other comparable game in the world, so that’s often a challenge.
“That was really pleasing at the weekend.”
The wins have come under Sam Mitchell, who is off to a superb start as head coach after replacing four-time premiership winner Alastair Clarkson.
So what has Mitchell introduced that has been so successful so far?
“It’s still the same game, you still have so many of the same fundamentals,” McEvoy added.
“We’re not trying to teach ourselves a new game, but there’s obviously some significant differences in the way we’re structuring up.
“Some of the language is a little bit different, but you pick it up pretty quick. You could go to any coach in the league having grown up playing footy, you can switch pretty quickly.”
As is always the case when assessing someone who has taken over from a master coach, or any coach for that matter, there will always be comparisons.
McEvoy pointed out the major differences between Mitchell and Clarkson, indicating that the former has been able to bond quickly with his playing group.
McEvoy said: “‘Mitch’ hasn’t yelled as much as ‘Clarko’ yet, does that count?
“I don’t want to feed into the narrative that people think they already have at the moment, but Clarko was naturally a very strong defensive coach.
“People don’t understand how strong he was offensively as well, but you’ve got one thing over the other naturally in your brain a bit more.
“Sam likes to be very offensive, but at the same time, people think that’s what he’s all about. He’s unbelievably strong on defence.
“We had the highest score for the round which really pleased Sam. He’d like to see scoring more in the game in general.”
The veteran ruckman added: “In any given situation you can have a really great coach that doesn’t quite click with the right group of players.
“With a different group, different results.
“I have full respect for all previous coaches, sometimes the change just works.”
The Hawks will look to extend their winning run when they meet Carlton, who are also undefeated, at the MCG on Sunday.