‘18kg overweight’: Inside brutal flag hangover as Pies doomsday scenario emerges

It is a mindset Hawkins, who will feature on Fox Footy’snext week, was familiar with having been part of a Geelong team trying to do exactly the same for the previous decade.

“It just reminds me of how unbelievable back-to-back successes and back-to-back-to-back flags are, because you become the hunted.” Just six months after Collingwood’s triumph over Brisbane at the MCG, Magpies coach Craig McRae has been quizzed already as to whether the club is suffering from a premiership hangover, while his Lions counterpart Chris Fagan is also facing some tough questions.Dating back to 1999, only 18 per cent of teams that have started with successive losses have reached the finals, though both Brisbane and Collingwood are capable of quick recoveries.

“We’re in the process of qualifying and before we do any of that, there is no point in talking about anything else.”Source: Getty Images “There is certainly a different focus on the preparation and results when you are the reigning premier.” He was a pivotal member in the midfield when the Hawks stunned Geelong in the 2008 Grand Final and said the celebrations afterwards were a factor in the club’s failure to make finals the following year.

“It is intangible because your only goal throughout your entire career is to win a premiership,” he said. Sewell, who ultimately missed selection for the 2014 Grand Final after an injury-riddled season then retired at the end of the year, identified a few factors as crucial to Hawthorn’s repeat successes between 2013 and 2015.

“We were not solely focused on winning the Grand Final. One of the things we were quite good at was breaking down blocks within a season and setting milestones within a year,” Sewell said. Hawkins, who is on track to play his 350th game against Hawthorn on Easter Monday at the MCG, said prior to the start of the season there are clear benefits to starting a year well.

“The important thing for a club to do is to change the goalposts, to measure yourself differently, once you are a premiership side,” Sewell said.

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