Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell has been unsparing in his post-match assessment after his side surrendered a match-winning lead to Fremantle in a chaotic finish to their AFL Round 9, 2026 clash, conceding the Hawks were not yet ready to beat the competition's best.
The Hawks dominated the contest for three and a half quarters before Fremantle's Luke Jackson and Caleb Reid combined for a devastating final term. Mitchell pinpointed the moment the game slipped away.
"We got what we wanted for the majority of the game, and then late, I thought they obviously, we played into their hands with a bit of the way we played, and some of their good players stood up," Mitchell said. "I think Jackson had eight scoring involvements in the last quarter. I think Reid had six touches, six scoring involvements. So when you let their best players get on top, we couldn't win."
The numbers told the story of an attritional collapse. Hawthorn lost the bounce 0-6 in the final term and were swamped 2-20 in inside-50s.
"It was just hectic out there. It was like an avalanche almost from Fremantle," Mitchell said. "We couldn't find any way to get any field position, and just get the ball into our front half. We got taught a bit of a lesson late."
The defeat continued a recurring theme of close defeats for the Hawks in 2026. Mitchell did not shy away from criticising his side's mentality in the moments that mattered.
"We've talked a lot this year about being ready to play and win against the best sides. And we proved tonight that we're not quite there," he said. "We've been involved in a lot of close games so far this year and we weren't good enough tonight."
Mitchell also revealed Hawthorn's review process was already underway. "We went away from a few things that we were meant to be doing across that last 15 minutes of the game, and we already half reviewed it to be honest about these are things that are going to cost us big games and we shot ourselves in the foot with the way we set the game up tonight late in the game."
The injury to Jacob Barrass compounded the night, forcing structural compromises across the back half. "Looks like he's done a hammy, so losing a full back is never ideal," Mitchell said. "Meant we had to push Witherden into the back line, which compromised our forward structure a bit."
Mitchell stopped short of using the absence as cover. "There's no excuses. We should have been better than we were tonight."
The Hawks now turn their attention to next week's clash with Melbourne, with Mitchell promising an honest assessment over the days off.