Hawks probably had the Worst Game of all in JLT1, but they played 2 less rotations than Lions and left about 10 A grade players in melbourne while Lions played the full Kit.
Hawks IMO was set to become the big Improver from top 4 in 2018 with Birchall back, Skully in, Wingard in.
But just one injury like Tom Mitchall and all that potential improvement is stepped back.
If by some miracle Mitchall is back in 95% nick to play from August onward we could have a sniff of hope to play the GF.
The other factor is the new rules, centre clearances have never been more valuable,
Tigers are a rebound team, but they could be pantsed by these new rules,
Getting on a roll of fast centre clearances and marks inside 50 could be the play that ranks the Ladder.
Lions smashed us Hawks but not 1 Lions player took more than 1 contested Mark.
Hawks had several players with more than 1 contested Mark, but that could just be hawks didnt have the Cattle to contest.
Eddy should get a few more chances this year to take mark of the Year so the New Rules should be entertaining at least.
It is about time Tex and Slone had some good luck though, They have had enough bad luck in their life.