Target set: What Hawks must do to stop Lions juggernaut

Hawthorn must come out swinging from an attacking point of view if they are to beat Brisbane this weekend.

The target MUST be to kick 100 points or more.

The Hawks, fresh off a week off, host the Lions at the MCG in a Preliminary Final on Saturday (5:15pm). It comes just over a month after they lost to the Lions by 67 points at the Gabba.

Despite dismantling and suffocating minor premiers Fremantle with a 72-40 Qualifying Final victory in Perth a fortnight ago, Sam Mitchell’s Hawks need to up the ante now.

That is according to Champion Data’s Daniel Hoyne who outlined how the Hawks must play if they are to stop the Lions juggernaut that has put up massive scores of 125 (v Hawthorn), 159 (v Collingwood) and 144 (v Adelaide last weekend) across their past five outings.

“Do the Hawks need a gear change?,” Hoyne said on SEN’s Sportsday.

“I don't think you can go into this game thinking ‘we are going to restrict Brisbane to 80 points, or we're going to restrict them to 90 points’.

“If you want to beat Brisbane, you have got to put three figures on the table. And how are you going to do that?

“You couldn't have more respect for what Hawthorn did against Fremantle over there. But I think it's a hard, hard way to win consistently for a whole final series. Immense pressure, enormous pressure, enormous effort, enormous buy-in from everybody to restrict and limit and suffocate Fremantle.

“But they also only kicked 10 goals themselves. That's not going to get it done against Brisbane.”

Hoyne referenced that Round 22 contest at the Gabba where the Hawks conceded 35 scoring shots while only kicking eight goals themselves.

Since then there has been a shift in game style from Mitchell.

“What Hawthorn did in that Round 22 game, their aggression was around about 90, means that they're trying to go lateral and they're trying to work their way around Brisbane, but Brisbane picked them off,” he continued.

“And I reckon since that game, there's been a potential slight mind shift in around what they want to do.

“I know this guy's only a kid, but I reckon the addition of Max Beattie is a little bit of an insight into what Hawthorn want to do. They've brought Max Beattie in, and now ahead of the footy, they've got Beattie, Nick Watson, Dylan Moore, Jack Ginnivan, Connor Macdonald - five of them ahead of the footy.

“Since that game, rather than going lateral, three games in a row, it's been more straight line, more aggressive, straight towards goal, to get our speed, to get our forward-half pressure game going, to get our forward-half intercept game going. And we're going to score off the back of that.

“So potentially, if you're a Hawthorn supporter, look for more of a surge and ‘we’re going to go straight at Brisbane’ approach, because there is clear evidence this year that some of these games where Brisbane have been beaten this year - Sydney did it, Geelong did it, GWS did it. They went full-on aggression straight towards goal against Brisbane. They didn't go around them. They didn't go sideways. It wasn't an uncontested marking game. It was ‘we're getting it and we're going straight at you’.”

Hoyne added: “We’ve got to have the mindset of kicking 100 points. And we might risk some opportunities going back the other way. And Brisbane might get some opportunities going back the other way.

“But we're not going to get into this Grand Final by rocking up Saturday, on a perfect day at the ‘G, and think we're going to restrict them to 80 points. We've got to have a crack at trying to do it.

“Hawthorn have only scored 100 or more points once in their last six games against top eight teams. So it is a challenge.

“That to me has to be the mindset against this powerful, offensive juggernaut in Brisbane.”

Former Port Adelaide and new Tassie Devils coach Ken Hinkley completely agrees.

He says the Malcolm Blight theory of playing attacking footy and attempting to pile on a bigger score than your opposition should be on full show for the Hawks.

“I agree that if you don't take Brisbane on in offense, you're in all sorts,” Hinkley added.

“Because if they do that they bash you, and that's what they did to the Hawks up at the Gabba.

“They have to score. Brisbane will refuse not to score a hundred I would have thought. It will be perfect conditions.

“As far as I’m concerned, Blighty’s theory has to apply. If they kick 20 goals, we’ve got to kick 21.”

The Hawks have scored 100-plus in nine matches in 2026, holding a 9-0 record.

The Lions have scored 100-plus on 16 occasions in 2026, winning 14.