Hawks unconcerned by lack of Buddy frees

HAWTHORN midfielder Chance Bateman says the umpires’ treatment of Lance Franklin was not the reason for the Hawks’ narrow loss to Geelong on the weekend.

Coach Alastair Clarkson admitted frustration at a lack of free kicks for Franklin after the match but Bateman said the players had not discussed the umpires.

“Lance isn’t one to worry about the umpires," Bateman said. "He doesn’t think about that much at all. It definitely wasn’t the reason we lost the game, that was probably more our fault.

"He [Franklin] has been in good form for us and I think we’ve got a pretty good run through the second and third quarters with the umpires.

"It all evens out, you’ll get some good decisions and get some bad ones, that’s footy.”

Despite the loss, Hawthorn’s finals chances are still very much alive and the bookies have them at shorter odds for the flag than Carlton and Essendon, teams that are currently in the eight.

But Bateman said there had been no talk of September and that the club could not afford to look ahead of this week’s must-win game against Port Adelaide.

“We don’t really think about finals - just because we’re not in a position to. Teams like Geelong and St Kilda have the wins on the board and know they are going to be playing in September,” he said.

“They can probably afford to look ahead, where we have just got to try and get some wins on the board and look forward to each week. That’s our only process at the moment, our only way of thinking.”

Bateman said the Hawks were starting to recapture the aggression and determination that was the feature of its game plan last year.

“For three quarters on the weekend we were playing really good footy, almost back to our best footy where we were taking the game on, we were pretty aggressive and hard-running. We just fell away in that last quarter,” he said.

“It’s not that pushing and shoving. It’s not that, it’s just the attack on the ball and the opponents when they’ve got the footy. That is back to where it should be and where we expect it to be.”