HAWTHORN's quest for a premiership 'three-peat' is being driven by the pain of the lean years after its breakthrough 2008 flag, coach Alastair Clarkson says.
The Hawks were widely seen to have won a premiership ahead of schedule when they upset Geelong in the 2008 Grand Final with a relatively young playing group.
But the young Hawks soon discovered that premiership success does not automatically beget more premiership success.
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After a number of players – some because of injury – returned for the start of the 2009 pre-season in average condition, the Hawks missed the finals in 2009 and bowed out in the first week of the 2010 finals series.
Speaking after the Hawks kicked off their 2015 season in imposing fashion against Geelong on Easter Monday, Clarkson said the club's senior players had absorbed the lessons of 2009-10 and were intent on passing them on to the club's youngsters.
"We fell away a far bit after our 2008 premiership win and it took us three or four years to get ourselves back into a position to significantly challenge again," Clarkson said.
"So because of that history I don't think our players take anything for granted and they know full well that, right through the club, our goals are all around (finishing) top-four (and) starting again, no matter what campaign.
"Sometimes you come up short and we've done that in 2011 and 2012 and sometimes you'll salute like we've done in 2013 and 2014, but what we do know at our footy club is that those standards are driven enormously by our senior players.
"They've learnt through history that there can be some pain if you don't prepare really well. You've just got to start again and roll your sleeves up and get the work done."
Clarkson said the Hawks had "prepared well" for 2015 and had been helped by the late start to the season because of the cricket World Cup.
The Hawks coach said midfielder Liam Shiels was in doubt for the Hawks' round two clash with Essendon on Sunday after being substituted from the Geelong win early in the third term with "a little bit of a tight hamstring".
"I don't think it was significant but at this time of the year you've to be really, really protective of your players and he probably could have gone back on in the third quarter but we just didn't really want to take a risk," Clarkson said.
"If it's tight and he goes out at half-time it's probably not a good sign for next week but it's nothing major.
"We'll get that scanned tomorrow and see where that places him for next week."
Clarkson said he had "very conveniently" not seen the second-quarter incident in which Cat Steve Johnson was reported for rough conduct against Sam Mitchell.
Johnson bumped Mitchell in the back just after he tapped a high-bouncing ball to a teammate. The former Hawks skipper took some time to regain his feet but played out the match after briefly leaving the ground.
Clarkson said Mitchell was "pretty sore", but so too were a lot of the Hawks after the first game of the season.
"He'll recover as normal," the Hawks coach said of Mitchell.
"We've only got a six-day break leading into the Bombers back here next Sunday afternoon so we'll get all our guys assessed and those that are fit and recover really well will play next week and those that don't we'll just replace them with another guy."
