SPEARHEAD Tom Hawkins has labelled Geelong’s ball movement as “inconsistent” but is confident the ladder leaders can back to the form that saw them holding an 11-1 win-loss record before the bye.
In the five games since the break, Geelong has suffered losses to Port Adelaide, Western Bulldogs and Hawthorn for their three lowest scores of the season.
Hawkins, who will play his 250th game for the club, says the tempo at which the Cats move the ball has been spoken about.
“we’re not necessarily going to be playing bull out of a gate and just take risky options out wide (or) through the middle,” he said. “We’re going to play with composure our game style allows us to.
“So, probably just addressing, like we do every week, how we can improve in attack, but also improve in defence.
“They’ve certainly been addressed from our point-of-view, and from what our coaches want from us moving forward.
“I’m not going to elaborate too much on that in here, but certainly we’re getting to work.”
Hawkins was averaging just under three goals a game with 35 majors through the opening 12 rounds.
Since the bye, he has managed just seven goals from five matches, including being held to goalless and to just one kick against the Power.
However, he has played down suggestions there is a blueprint to beating Geelong.
“As a player, and this is my personal opinion, I don’t look too far beyond the week that we’ve just played and the week that moves forward and present,” he said.
“Each side both attack and defend differently, and we need to be able to shift our mindset from week-to-week, but also maintain the core we want to play.
“It doesn’t bother me how other sides have beaten us. It’s just a matter, for us, of addressing what we need to do better, and then implementing it this weekend.”
Twitter: @tom_king79
Email: kingy@geelongbroadcasters.com
Click below to hear Tom Hawkins’ media conference in-full.