‘We got a lesson today’: Mitchell, Hawks have work to do after red-hot Demons charge to glory

Updated May 16, 2026 — 10:25pm,first published 6:54pm

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A deflated Sam Mitchell has labelled Hawthorn’s 39-point drubbing at the hands of Melbourne at the MCG on Saturday an “outlier”.

The Hawthorn coach said his side had been outworked and out-hunted by the Demons in a match that they led the inside-50 count 57 to 56 but were smashed in the centre square after half-time as opposition ruckman Max Gawn took control.

“We sort of pride ourselves on our work rate, and we got a lesson today,” Mitchell said.

“I they think they won ground balls by 18 or 20, and they just looked a little bit more hungry than we did today, and you can’t win many games at this level of footy if you’re out hunted by the opposition.

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“It’s a challenge to be able to put your finger on it. I would say that it’s an outlier performance for this group.

“It’s been a long time since you would have to say that we have been genuinely outworked in a game.”

Mitchell said the 6-3-1 Hawks would lick their wounds and regroup ahead of next Thursday night’s clash against a resurgent Adelaide in Launceston. He said the side should have been able to adapt up forward without Jack Gunston, who missed with an ankle injury.

The Hawthorn forwards were outplayed by Demon defenders Daniel Turner, Jake Lever and Jake Bowey.

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“We weren’t able to find scores going forward,” Mitchell said.

“We found great ways to not score from good entries, and they were really potent going the other way.

“That’s been a bit of a pattern for us, where we haven’t been able to get scores per entry as high as we’d like over the last few weeks, but before that it had been really strong.

“When Jack’s not there, you know, other players are playing roles that suit them, and we just weren’t able to execute them as well today.”

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Melbourne have been the surprise packet of the season, sitting 7-3 after big wins at the MCG against top sides such as Hawthorn, Gold Coast and the two-time reigning premier Brisbane Lions.

Demons coach Steven King said he believed his playing group could break away after a dour first half in which they led by just six points.

They sprang an early surprise by starting Harrison Petty forward and he kicked the first two goals of the game and had three by the long break.

“I think our stoppage game got going a bit more [after half-time],” he said.

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“It was a real arm wrestle early and if our method going inside 50 wasn’t at the level, or the method that we wanted, and planned. Hawthorn were punishing us the other way, and their turnover game was strong.

“They got some good territory, and metres gained off that. So, yeah, we knew it’d be an arm wrestle.”

But King said the Demons were able to regroup at half-time.

“We back ourselves in the game from a fitness perspective, we know we can run out games, we’ve got a good profile, and it is just sort of one of those ones where you’ve got to keep at it.”

Melbourne outscored Hawthorn 12 goals to seven after half-time as the floodgates opened.

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“We just thought Petz [Petty] is a type of player that can play both ends, and we, yeah, we saw an opportunity there to do that – ask a couple of our defenders to play a bit taller, which gave us that flexibility,” King said of throwing Petty forward.

“I thought today if we could have sort of three talls ahead of the ball for most of the game, it might look favourable for us.”

Clearly, it helped that Hawthorn was without injured defender Tom Barrass.

- Danny Russell

‘We got our pants pulled down’: North skipper’s brutal honesty

Steve Barrett

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Adelaide: Shell-shocked North Melbourne captain Nick Larkey admits the Kangaroos had their “pants pulled down” by Adelaide, and refuses to simply dismiss his team’s Saturday afternoon horror show as a one-off aberration.

Larkey thought days like this were well and truly in the rearview mirror at Arden Street. And for the most part, they seem to be.

But Saturday’s 68-point demolition at the hands of the Crows brought back grim reminders of the darkest days of North’s long rebuild.

“It’s disappointing because it really felt like we were getting to a point where we’re going to be in every game and not have those big fall aways,” Larkey said.

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“I’ve been part of a lot of those games in past years and I thought we’d put those sorts of performances behind us. We all did.

“There are levels to it, and when you’re slightly off, you can get your pants pulled down.

“You can’t treat a game like this as an anomaly – you can’t wipe it off and forget about it.

“The mindset has to be sharp around exactly why and what went wrong.”

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The Crows poured in 10.4 to 0.2 in the second term amid a flurry of 13 unanswered goals either side of half-time.

Adelaide dominated in every facet and it all started in the engine room, which had been a season-long strength for North prior to this weekend.

“We were absolutely smacked in the contest,” Larkey said.“That’s what really stood out and it’s something we’ve been elite in.

“We put a price on it and want to make it a staple of our game – and it has been – but they taught us a lesson in there.

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“I thought we were getting to a stage where effort in the contest is non-negotiable, a no-brainer, but clearly we’ve still got work to do in that area.

“We were a little bit shell-shocked in that second quarter when they piled on all those goals.”

The first-year skipper didn’t spare himself in the fallout, admitting his output – eight touches, one mark, and one goal – was below par.

“It falls on me ... it falls on all of us leaders,” Larkey said.

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“We’ve had games in the past when we’ve been poor and bounced back really well.

“It’s about getting back to a brand of football that our body of work has shown we can do. I’m confident that we can. We’ve got enough evidence to show that we can be a good side.”

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More:

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Danny Russell is a racing writer for The Age.

Default avatarSteve Barrett writes about sport for The Age.

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