Hawthorn’s plan to tackle footy’s toughest test — the Suns in Darwin

You might not realise it, but footy’s toughest trip is now heading to Darwin to face the Suns. And the Hawks are set to throw their routine out the window in order to be ready for the challenge.

Hawthorn will throw out its usual travel routine in an attempt to stop one of footy’s growing hoodoos in Darwin on Thursday.

The Hawks will fly to the Northern Territory on Monday and train there ahead of its round 10 clash with Gold Coast.

Hawks coach Sam Mitchell was still seething from a 67-point loss at TIO Stadium in 2022, when he thought his team didn’t adapt to the unique sticky Darwin conditions against a Suns team that finished that year 12th, and hatched the unusual travel plan with club staff when the fixture was revealed.

Mitchell said on Saturday his side battled with the heat and humidity and “didn’t handle it as well as we thought we would”.

The Hawks head to Darwin on Monday. Picture: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

Hawthorn hasn’t been alone in struggling in the top end, given Gold Coast has won all seven of its matches there since the start of 2022.

When travelling interstate, clubs generally fly out in the afternoon two days before a game or the day before and hold a captain’s run at the match venue to acclimatise to conditions.

Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge this week said his side wouldn’t change its routine too much and held a late afternoon captain’s run in Darwin on Friday, nearly 24 hours before a 10-point loss to the Suns.

But more experimentation has occurred this year, with Collingwood successfully spending a week in Queensland before smashing Brisbane by 52 points on Easter Thursday.

Amid a five-day break this week, the Pies travelled to Perth three days after a loss to Geelong and pulled off a morale-boosting win over Fremantle.

The Dockers also mixed up their travel schedule earlier this year, going straight to Melbourne after Gather Round to spend a week staying in South Yarra, but Fremantle lost its match against Melbourne.

The early travel will give the Hawks only Sunday to recuperate before hitting the road, with rebounding defender Jarman Impey to be one Hawk not on the plane as he stays back to support his pregnant partner.

Versatile defender Jack Scrimshaw is pushing to be available.

The Hawks began planning for the tight turnaround by resting recruit Tom Barrass from Saturday’s win over the Demons and will take an extended squad for the trip.

Mitchell and his staff will look over other players before the trip north, with red-hot 33-year-old forward Jack Gunston form certain to raise debates about whether he needs a break.

Subbed either off or on in 17 of his last 21 AFL matches, Luke Breust has played two complete games in a row.

Mitchell was watching on his phone before the Demons match as returning tall forward Calsher Dear started his third consecutive VFL game on Saturday, and while Dear has only put up modest numbers for Box Hill, he was an integral part of the rampaging Hawks side last year.

The Western Bulldogs are the only side to get close to Gold Coast since the club started holding its mid-season fortnight of Darwin games in 2022.

The Dogs lost there by seven points in 2023 and 10 points on Saturday night, but the average margin of the other five games has been 57.2 points.

Eventual preliminary finalist Geelong conceded its 26.8 (164) to Gold Coast in Darwin last year in a 64-point thumping, its biggest score against in the Chris Scott era.

Originally published as Hawthorn’s plan to tackle footy’s toughest test — the Suns in Darwin