The reality is that Hawthorn are better than us. If we play them 10 times, home and away, we will probably only beat them three times. It’s not skills, it’s not endeavour, it’s not fitness, it’s not selection, it’s not coaching, it’s not handshaking, it’s a little of each of those things (except handshaking). It’s been that way for the last few years. Sadly, the Grand Final is played on their home turf. The best we can hope for is that we are lucky and avoid them in the finals, or we time our run so we maximise our chances that one of those three out of 10 games is at the business end of the year. I reckon Ross knows this, and he knows that the difference between 2013 and 2014 is that we were peaking in September 2013, but were off the boil in late 2014.
We’re the second or third best team in the comp, with wins in the bank. That gives us a real shot. But to win we have to be at our best in September / October.
