Jarryd Roughead has conceded greater synergy is required for the new look Hawks

AFTER a season full of change, Hawthorn skipper Jarryd Roughead says the club just needs some time so its new players can gel with its established stars.

Jarryd Roughead, Luke Hodge and Jack Gunston leave the ground after Hawthorn’s loss. Picture: Wayne Ludbey

HAWTHORN skipper Jarryd Roughead has conceded greater synergy is required between its new faces and its established players after the club went 0-2 for the first time in eight years.

As triple premiership coach Mick Malthouse declared on SEN the Hawks had shed their invincible aura, Roughead called for patience as the club looks to arrest the alarming start to 2017, following second half fadeouts to Essendon and Adelaide.

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Roughead said the group was still adjusting to the addition of four players from rival AFL clubs — including Tom Mitchell and Jaeger O’Meara, who had 74 disposals between them — and the use of several young players following the controversial off-season departures of Sam Mitchell and Jordan Lewis.

“It’s April first, there is a lot of water to go under the bridge this year,” Roughead said after the Hawks’ 24-point loss to Adelaide.

“This is a ruthless game at times, and we have got to be patient and understand that it is going to take some time.

Hawthorn players leave the ground after Saturday’s loss. Picture: Michael Klein

“We have had our chances (in both matches), and that shows where the group is at now. We are probably not gelling as well as a group at the moment — with four blokes coming in from other clubs, myself coming back (this year), and it’s the first time I have played with (Ryan) Burton, and (Kade) Stewart, and (Teia) Miles in the AFL.

“You have to learn how each other plays and you have to gel together rather than think they can just come out and do what the old blokes are going to do.”

Roughead said the trip to the Gold Coast to take on the Suns next Sunday provided the team with a great chance to further strengthen the bonds between the entire group.

Mitchell and O’Meara turned in their best games for their new clubs on Saturday, having 38 and 37 disposals respectively.

The pair did a lot of the heavy lifting, having 18 and 19 contested possessions, and trying to keep the Hawks in the contest.

Fifty eight of their combined 74 disposals came in handballs, though Roughead wasn’t concerned with the high handball-to-kick ratio.

“I guess watching from the stands, you might say there could be too much handball, but out there it doesn’t feel that way,” he said.

Triple M’s Wayne Carey questioned the disposal efficiency of both players: “They get a lot of the ball but they’re not Lewis, they’re not (Sam) Mitchell. They’re not as good at decision making. They don’t use the ball as well. (But) this is a very different Hawthorn team.”

But Roughead insisted the Hawks were building and that he saw plenty of “blue skies:” among the frustration of what amounts to four straight losses starting in last year’s finals.

He remains confident Mitchell, O’Meara and Co will adapt even further to the ball movement patterns of the club.

Tom Mitchell fires off a handball for the Hawks. Picture: Getty Images

“That’s what you would expect from midfielders when (Isaac) Smith and (Liam) Shiels were off in the end,” he said. “Those guys stepped, but it wasn’t just those two.”

“There are patches in games where there is blue sky. It is not as if we are going out there and losing from the first bounce. But there are just (other) little patches within games that we seem to fall away and that costs us.”