Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell is "pleased" with the outcome of second-half positional changes for Hawks star defenders James Sicily and Josh Weddle, after the two heavily influenced the contest to drive Hawthorn to an Opening Round win.
Following an ankle injury on the cusp of halftime, midfielder James Worpel was substituted out of the game, with sub Sam Frost deployed into the backline.
Already fielding three key backs with Sicily, and club debutants Josh Battle and Tom Barrass, Mitchell made the decision to test out Sicily's widely anticipated positional change to the forward line, while Weddle shuffled forward from half-back to the wing and forward half.
The decision paid dividends after a tense third quarter that saw Sydney close the margin to less than a goal, as Sicily recorded three score involvements and two marks inside 50 in the final term.
Mitchell reflected on the change of dynamic and how it led to Hawthorn controlling the big moments of the game, indicating a sign of growth and maturity from the young Hawks side.
"When it started to get a little bit wet, I thought they (Sydney) handled that better early, particularly in the third. Once we were able to consolidate the way we needed to play, I thought the last quarter just showed great character," Mitchell said.
"For the toughness and the key moments of the game, it's really important when you play good sides you need to handle big moments and I thought that the players did a great job. I thought there was a lot of just small moments that we handled really well and I was really pleased with the players' performance.
"...Flexibility in the team is something we know we can call on, but it's not something we want to use all the time.
"Once we lost 'Worps' it meant that we had to make a bit of a change so we pushed Weddle forward, I thought he did a fantastic job, and we saw 'Sic' do it late.
"When you think about Weddle and Sicily both changing positions pretty regularly, and Sicily, he's been around a while so we expect him to do it well, and he did a fantastic job again.
"But I think Josh Weddle's third term when he went forward, and we didn't have a lot of ball control, we weren't playing particularly well, he was able to give us some really good contest in front of the ball so I thought that was something that gives us a bit of confidence for the future too."
However, Mitchell is keen to see the key forward likes of Calsher Dear and Mitchell Lewis return to the side this season, so Sicily and Weddle are not heavily relied upon to change their role frequently.
"Our forward line is a little bit of a work in progress still without Mitch Lewis or Calsher Dear. I think they're pretty important parts of our future and we would love to play a big key tall forward at some stage throughout the year," Mitchell said.
Lewis and Dear are progressing from respective long-term injuries - Lewis overcoming a mid-season ACL tear last year, while the second-year father-son recruit is managing a stress concern in his back, a return date still to be concluded.
It means Hawks fans could see a shifting forward line again next Friday when the Hawks take on Essendon, as Mitchell likely continues to experiment with Sicily, Weddle, Blake Hardwick and Mabior Chol.
