HAWTHORN captain Jarryd Roughead says his side’s Round 17 loss to Brisbane proved a turning point for the Hawks.

Just days after Hawthorn secured a top-four berth with a gutsy win over Sydney, Roughead reflected on the six-week purple patch that turned their year around.

The Round 17 loss saw the Hawks sitting at 9-7 and battling to scrape into the finals.

Roughead said the result had prompted his side to have “a good look” at themselves and avoid wasting the year.

The Hawks went on to win their next six games to finish the season in fourth place.

“I definitely think that it probably wasn’t expected that we were going to finish top four, especially six weeks ago when we had that loss to Brisbane, I think we were out of the eight altogether,” Roughead told reporters on Monday.

“So to get on a roll like we have for the past four or five weeks and see the emergence of some of these young guys … has been great for us and great for the footy club.

“I think after that loss to Brisbane, we had a good look at ourselves and thought ... ‘is it a season that we just want to throw away and have nothing to really look back on and think “that was a good season.”’

“Whereas now we probably thought ‘we need to do something about it’ and we played some pretty good sides in the last five weeks — and it wasn’t as if they were all going to be easy matches.

“We had to play some good footy and I think we’ve showed in the past five or six weeks that we can play some pretty good footy.”

While emphasising the Hawks hadn’t needed a “crisis meeting” after Round 17, Roughead said the players had seized the opportunity to make some adjustments that allowed them to hit top form.

That hot streak has included wins over Essendon, Geelong and Sydney.

“It wasn’t like a crisis meeting or anything like that but we obviously needed to play better footy than what we were,” he said.

“As I said, we didn’t want to just get to the end of the season and say ‘could we have done a little bit better in a few games and just scraped into the finals or do we want to make an impact?’

“And I think the boys grabbed the opportunity with both hands and we see where we are now.”

The Hawks have benefited from the emergence of some young talent — especially James Worpel, who returned to the senior side in Round 18 and hasn’t missed a beat.

Coach Alastair Clarkson praised his side’s young players, and said the inclusion of veteran Shaun Burgoyne — who returned from injury in Round 19 — had also helped turn things around.

“I think there’s a whole combination of things … I think some injection of some young talent. Worpel came into the side at about that time and has played some really good footy for us,” Clarkson said.

“He wasn’t ready earlier in the year when he had his little bit of a sniff at it and his second go at it, he’s been terrific and we debuted Conor Nash in the last three weeks and he’s come in and given us just a different look in our front half and Harry Morrison’s continued to play some good footy for us.

“So we’ve been pleased with the emergence of some of these younger players – Teia Miles has played in our back end, Kaiden Brand has once again stepped into a key position role for us and the emergence of those young fellas and getting Burgoyne back into the side has helped us enormously in the last five to six weeks.”

Clarkson said the Hawks were thriving due to a combination of youth and experience.

“I mentioned after the game against Sydney, a combination of some older, wiser heads, who can steer and guide these young fellas and the injection of youth is great for guys like this guy sitting next to me (Roughead), that there is some light at the end of the tunnel,” he said.

“And if you work hard, the great thing is the game isn’t defined by your birth certificate really and all players – whether you’re 36 like Shaun or a young fellow like Worpel who’s coming through his first season of footy – it can be exciting, the game doesn’t look at it and say ‘oh you can’t do well in this game because you’re too young or you’re too old.’

“It’s the great beauty of the gaem right as we speak now.”