If Hawthorn again miss the AFL finals, Hawks football boss Graham Wright says there will be no excuses.
Despite a roaring end to last season, which saw them claim away wins against grand finalists GWS and powerhouse West Coast, this century's most successful club were denied a shot at September action.
Alastair Clarkson's team has played four finals games since their 2015 grand final triumph, but have lost them all.
That fact would be eating away at the four-time premiership coach.
Wright said any season when Hawthorn don't feature in the finals, let alone win one, is not good enough.
"What you did in the back end of last year might give you some confidence heading into the following year but the reality was we missed finals," Wright told AAP.
"We look at it that was disappointing regardless of how we finished off, we were disappointed with the year overall.
"We think that we should and need to play finals in 2020. I don't think there'd be any excuses for us.
"If you're able to keep your group healthy, making finals is where we should sit."
Giving Hawks fans confidence of improving on last year's ninth-placing will be the return of champion midfielder Tom Mitchell.
After his prolific 2018 season, Mitchell last year suffered a freak pre-season training accident, breaking the fibula and tibia in his left leg.
Any team is going to miss a guy who can rack up amassed 848 disposals, which Mitchell did during his Brownlow Medal winning season.
Wright said the Hawks were cautiously optimistic the 26-year-old can again be the elite player he was before the horrific injury.
Mitchell remains on track to play his first game since Hawthorn's 2018 semi-final loss to Melbourne when the Hawks' clash with Brisbane in round one.
"He won't leave any stone unturned getting back to the player he was," Wright said.
"He's such a natural ball-winner and a natural footballer so actually finding the football has never been an issue for him."
More links to the premiership three-peat left Waverley Park during the off-season, most notably popular former captain Jarryd Roughead.
The key forward called time on his decorated career after being relegated to the VFL last year, as did cult hero Ryan Schoenmakers.
Injury-plagued in recent seasons, Grant Birchall has followed premiership skipper Luke Hodge's lead and headed north to Brisbane.
But as they do most years, Hawthorn did well luring players in, with Sam Frost and Michael Hartley to boost their key-position stocks.
They also hung onto star veteran Shaun Burgoyne, who turned down a big-money offer to be a playing mentor for Gold Coast's inexperienced list.
Coming off his third knee reconstruction, Jonathon Patton's long-talked about move to the Hawks from GWS finally became a reality.
Could the former No.1 draft pick become another success story for Hawthorn's rehabilitation program?
"(Patton's) 18 months removed from that latest reconstruction," Wright said.
"So we knew he was coming in with a fair bit of work under his belt already and in a position where he'd be able to do a lot of the training."
The Hawks could get a mid-season boost with speedy defender Jarman Impey due to return after suffering an ACL injury last year.
from WWOS http://wwos.nine.com.au/afl/no-excuses-for-hawks-in-2020-footy-gm/8f698b90-21fc-43d9-b4b7-c6b6f7bda290
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