I would to congratulate Hawthorn coach Al Clarkson and the Hawthorn Football Club on their performance last Saturday, which saw them win back-to-back premierships.
The days since then have been most difficult to say the least.
Tonight, rather than celebrating one of the best seasons in our club’s history, we are all dealing with the disappointment of our performance in last Saturday’s Grand Final.
At this club we believe that we have set standards that give us the opportunity to be competitive in every game we play.
The foundation of those standards is a ruthless approach to every contest in every game.
Last Saturday we clearly didn’t meet those standards, as you would all know.
One of the most telling signs came early in the game. At quarter-time we had laid only seven tackles, while Hawthorn had 23.
We weren’t hard enough at the football, and we weren’t hard enough at the man with the football. That is the reality of what happened.
We know that our supporters who were at the game and all those watching on television with equal passion, would have been frustrated by what transpired.
Let me assure you those feelings are magnified many times when you’re at the coalface as we coaches, players, staff members or Board members are.
As you can imagine, there is no simple answer after a loss such as last Saturday’s.
But the character of this club and what we have built does not dissolve on one Saturday afternoon.
We have not turned away from the hard questions as we try to understand why we played so poorly.
So, how have we dealt with it? The only way we can, and the only way we know how – by confronting it.
We gathered together on Tuesday and watched the game.
We looked at it honestly and took collective responsibility for what happened.
It wasn’t easy. In fact it was a very uncomfortable couple of hours, but it was necessary if we are to effectively deal with what happened and emerge stronger in 2015.
Most importantly, we discussed how we will use each other to move forward. Strong support networks built upon honesty and care for each other will be our foundations.
At this football club the responsibility is shared by all. We celebrate, as well as commiserate, as one.
We are dealing with this together. Together we are sharing the pain of defeat, and together we will be a part of the solution.
So the process of moving on in a constructive way has begun.
I’m not going to make grand statements about what this might spur us to achieve – that’s not our style.
What I do know is that when I look at Jarrad McVeigh and Kieren Jack, or Josh Kennedy or Daniel Hannebery, or Luke Parker and Lance Franklin, or Nick Smith or Ted Richards, and plenty of others, that they are hurting.
And I know they’ll give everything they’ve got to give ourselves another chance.
We’ve been challenged before.
Our resilience was tested early this season when we lost three of our first four games, in particular after our round four loss to North Melbourne.
If we listened to or believed the doubters then, there’s no way we could have even contemplated getting to the Grand Final.
We had the faith and trust in each other then to work to fix the problems and play to our standards.
We will do that again now, and into the future.
Perhaps it’s too easily forgotten after Saturday, but our players have done many things right this year and I want them to take heart from that.
Individually, and collectively, there were so many positives to come out of the season.
Who would have thought that Ben McGlynn would take his game to another level in the midfield, that Luke Parker would charge around the ground like he did, that Harry Cunningham would play every game, that Jake Lloyd would play 21 games including three finals, that we would have four players gain All-Australian selection, that our player would win the Coleman Medal, or that we would have the number one defense over the home-and-away season, on our way to winning the most games in the club’s history.
Sport has a history of testing the resilience of everyone. We have not, and will not, ever shy away from putting ourselves in the position to challenge again. Like a boxer, when you jump into the ring and are prepared to fight often enough, sometimes you’ll receive a punch on the nose.
But, I’d rather be in the ring than out of it.
We copped our punch, but we’ll also climb back into the ring.
