Hawthorn defeated Adelaide by 27 points at the MCG on Saturday afternoon to commemorate the tenth anniversary of their 2014 championship in grand fashion.
With vice captain Dylan Moore leading the way with a career-high five goals and 27 disposals, the Hawks put on another outstanding display, leading from start to end. At halftime, the home team was 29 points ahead.
Nonetheless, head coach Sam Mitchell started his press conference following the game with a passionate statement against racist remarks made about one of his players on social media.
Mitchell made it plain that racism would not be accepted at the team, even though he was hesitant to discuss the specifics of the match day event.
Mitchell stated, “We are not interested in having you as a part of our club if you have any form of racism in you as a Hawthorn person. I don’t want to go into it, but I just want to put it out there.”
“While we’re all enjoying a fantastic win and we should all be enjoying it, unfortunately some parts of our Hawthorn family can’t enjoy it because of what heroes on their keyboards think they are capable of doing.
Taking a strong stance, the 41-year-old said if any online racists ‘wear brown and gold’ they would not be accepted at the Hawks.
After losing its first five games of the season, the young Hawks have five wins from their past seven matches.
But for a short lapse of judgement against Port Adelaide where they gave up a 41-point lead to lose by a solitary point, the Hawks would have won five consecutive games and six of their past seven.
Milestone man Jack Gunston, who was celebrating his 250th game, put the icing on the cake with his third goal for the match in the final minute.
The triple premiership star showed glimpses of the Gunston of old with precision in his 14 possessions and took seven marks while booting three goals.
Fans of the brown and gold will be glad to see the players have put away the heartbreak of their loss to the Power, showing resolve in the face of a third-quarter comeback by the Crows to quickly reassert control.
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