THE BEAUTIFUL waters, sand and climate of Mooloolaba on the Sunshine Coast are renowned for soothing mind and body, even during a rigorous pre-season training camp.



Having spent a week in that beautiful region of south-east Queensland last December, Hawthorn players and staff returned to Melbourne convinced they would again contend for a premiership in 2017.



It was in Mooloolaba where the decision, kept from the public for another month, was made to transition from Luke Hodge to Jarryd Roughead as captain; where Cyril Rioli presented himself so impressively that insiders left convinced he'd contend for the Brownlow Medal on the back of spending a lot of time in the midfield.



Cyril Rioli looking sharp in January, 2017. Picture: AFL Photos





It was in Mooloolaba where the off-season off-loading of Sam Mitchell and Jordan Lewis was no longer jabbing into the hearts of the teammates who loved them; where the Mitchell and Lewis replacements in Jaeger O'Meara and Tom Mitchell had begun to assimilate into the Hawthorn way.



Having been shocked at having its 2016 season ended early in the finals after losing four of their final six matches of a season in which it was attempting a fourth consecutive AFL premiership, the Hawks sufficiently regrouped and recharged in Queensland to the point where high-end success was again the plan going into the new season.



Despite opening 2017 with four straight losses, hopes for this season remained as buoyant as they were before Christmas after a big win against West Coast in round five.



Yet by half time of last Saturday's game against St Kilda in Launceston, the reality, seemingly obvious to all outsiders, had dawned on coach Alastair Clarkson to the point where he delivered as fierce a speech as at any stage of his 13-year coaching career.



Clarkson had been, not just publicly but also privately, defiant until this match. After a round two loss to Adelaide, he said he still believed he had a group of players who could deliver a premiership, that "we've got some pretty formidable players".



The next week, after an 86-point loss to Gold Coast, Clarkson was even stronger. "We've been in these situations before, these little moments are just events, they are not symbolic of us losing our identity as a winning side."



Round four, after another 86-point deficit, this time to Geelong: "We were just counting up how many All Australian players we have got in our side and at the present moment there are eight of 'em. If we or me are guilty of having confidence in our group, that's a good confidence to have."



By Saturday, the confidence was gone. "We are going to have to find ways within season when things aren't going our way to change things up, whether it is an injection of younger players, whether it is a change of game style or whatever it is, if we continue to have performances like that there will need to be catastrophic change."



Only Clarkson fully knows what he means by catastrophic change, but no decision in his time at Hawthorn was more catastrophic than his double-edged one of last October to trade out Mitchell and Lewis.



Some players were devastated, particularly with Lewis's exit. Mitchell was always a better player than Lewis, but it was Lewis who, in the eyes of those most perturbed by his leaving, was crucial to morale.



Jordan Lewis celebrating his first win with the Demons. Picture: AFL Photos





No one can begrudge Clarkson's right to make such calls. Four premierships in his 12 completed seasons as coach allows him the right to do whatever he wants. But he more than anyone knows there are ramifications for every action, and those left at Hawthorn are not the same, driven, competitive animals they once were.



Right now, that is his greatest challenge.



Roughead is clearly struggling with his new responsibilities, and he hated having to suspend Hodge, a six-season, three-time premiership Hawks captain, in the off-season for disciplinary reasons.



While it took until half-time of last Saturday's match for Clarkson to realise the Hawks were "off" in 2017, deep down he knew they were done when no Hawk bothered to remonstrate with Geelong's James Parsons after he clumsily and crudely elbowed Hodge to the head on Easter Monday.



It was staggering to watch the total lack of response from Hawks players that day. Had Lewis been playing, Parsons would have become quickly aware that no one got away with doing that to any Hawthorn player under his watch, let alone Hodge.







Hawthorn lost four of its last six matches in 2016, and now five of its first six this year.



Losing has become a trend, not merely the "little moment or event" that Clarkson claimed it was after the loss to the Suns - and Hodge and Josh Gibson and almost certainly Shaun Burgoyne will follow Mitchell and Lewis out of Hawthorn at the end of this year.



New Hawks chief executive officer Tracey Gaudry was very firm in her first media conference in that post on Monday when she delivered a "keep your hands off" Clarkson edict.



That, clearly, was directed at her counterpart at Gold Coast, Mark Evans, and also, quite possibly, to people connected with Collingwood.



As Clarkson himself displayed last year when he asked Mitchell and Lewis would they be interested in breaking contracts, a contract can be renegotiated.



Clarkson is contracted to coach Hawthorn until the end of 2019. He has shown no obvious signs of wanting out.



But Gaudry knows a lot of the current uncertainty surrounding Hawthorn would be removed if she could convince the coach to publicly state categorically, without even a hint of ambiguity or wiggle room, that he will again lead a rebuilding of the club he has already entrenched in all-time AFL greatness.



Hawthorn's new chief executive Tracey Gaudry. Picture: Getty Images





Twitter: @barrettdamian