Hawthorn endured a disastrous intra-club match at Waverley Park on Thursday with a pair of key players going down with injury.
That duo was James Blanck who tore his ACL and Changkuoth Jiath who suffered a hamstring injury. News before the clash also emerged that Dylan Moore would spend at least the next month on the sidelines with glandular fever.
With several key players now set to miss Round 1, including star midfielder Will Day with a foot injury, SEN’s David King thinks that Thursday’s session will rock their season and potentially change their outlook on the 2024 campaign entirely.
“Well, the Hawks was a tough watch yesterday, I felt really sorry for them,” King told SEN Breakfast.
“I'm interested to see whether you have to re-address their over and under.
“I mean, we had them at 8.5 wins last week and we were both over. Since then, we found out that Dylan Moore's got glandular fever.
“Will Day is just taking the normal time (to recover from his foot issue). But whenever you hear someone's taking the ‘normal time’ to recover from something I start thinking, ‘Oh, hang on, this is going to drag on a little’.
“Jiath walking from the field yesterday was the one player they couldn't have walk off with a hamstring injury given his history over the last couple of years, I think he played eight games last year.
“He's been there five or six years now and he has yet to play 50 games. He's been a challenge to get on the park.
“Then obviously James Blanck does an ACL five minutes later, it was a disastrous session that will rock this season.
“I feel for Sam Mitchell, and I feel for the Hawthorn footy club, it doesn't change where they're going, but it certainly changes the landscape for 2024.”
Cornes was in agreement with King that the Hawks now may have to change what expectations they had heading into 2024.
While the duo both picked the Hawks to win nine or more games this year, Cornes thinks they will now likely win eight games or less.
“I think it does (change the landscape of 2024) when you look at the category of the quality of play that they've lost,” Cornes said.
“Moore's been unflappable really the last couple of years, he’s been the fire starter for them as a pressure forward, but he’s gone up and done damage through the midfield in the front half of the ground. He's a top-50 player in the game.
“Day, we know his leadership and his combination with Newcombe in the midfield is as good as any young combo.
“The key position stuff (with Blanck going down) and then the flare on the outside with Jiath. So, it probably does change their over-under.”
While Cornes isn’t sure whether the Hawks will improve much from a win-loss standpoint compared to their 7-16 return in 2023, he still thinks the club can continue their upward trajectory without it necessarily being shown on the ladder.
“You mentioned something on the Saints a couple of weeks ago that you're not necessarily worried about where they finish this year as long as they're on the right premiership path,” Cornes said.
“I think that's the feeling I've got with the Hawks. You want the reward, and you want to taste that, and you want the victories.
“They still finished 16th last year. There's been a lot of hype about Hawthorn, we all think they’re on the right path, but they still did finish 16th.
“So, you want to climb up the ladder a little bit. But if they don't play finals this year on the back of some challenges, personnel-wise, I don't think it's a disaster.
“We want to be judging the Hawks in year four of the rebuild, where Adelaide are now.”
Hawthorn begin their season with a Round 1 clash against Essendon at the MCG on Saturday, March 16.
