I had the pleasure of sitting in a commentary box next to Luke Hodge on Friday night and listening to his views on various AFL topics.

One of his interesting insights came when he mentioned Tom Liberatore's decision to play a football game in Vietnam after the Bulldogs' grand final celebration. Liberatore's decision was a one-off and not overly significant. But to Hodge it spoke of a mindset, and reminded him of the effect success had on the Hawks after their 2008 victory, and how this was significantly different to their mindset after they won their next flag in 2013.

Few in the modern game would be able to contrast what it's like to win a flag with a young team versus what it's like to win one with on older team better than Hodge. After the Hawks' 2008 premiership, Hodge explained how their focus was on savouring their incredible achievement with plenty of celebrating, as is the natural reaction. However, it left some players coming back to training a little bit off fitness-wise.

The other component Hodge mentioned was that, as a younger side, the 2008 Hawks felt there was plenty of time for them to achieve premiership success again. However, when they won their next flag, in 2013, Hodge said the focus was immediately on coming back fitter next year so that they could experience success again. They were acutely aware of how hard it had been to earn success again after their initial breakthrough victory. It's an unnatural way to respond to such a significant achievement but, as history will show, winning back-to-back flags is an unnatural event.