After such a promising start to the game, things quickly turned sour for us and then to cap it off, Jimmy was hurt seconds before the final siren.

Jimmy wasn’t in the best shape out on the ground, but thankfully he was up and walking around the rooms after the game – he should be fine.

‘Hawthorn is a well-oiled machine on a mission and we were beaten in almost every aspect of the game.’

It was a dirty day for my Cats and a disappointing way to start the season. Hawthorn is a well-oiled machine on a mission and we were beaten in almost every aspect of the game. The Hawks are going to be hard to beat when they’re up and going, but we have to find a way to get to that level and go past them.

We will review the game and then look forward to playing Fremantle at Simonds Stadium on Sunday.

It was a tough initiation for Nakia and Cory, but they will learn from the experience and so will the group as a whole.

It’s a long season and this was just the first test of many.

We are still really confident in the work we’ve put into pre-season and as we’ve seen over the weekend, the competition is so even and you’ve just got to show up every week and perform.

Today wasn’t our day, but we will keep working to improve.

Go Cats.

This piece was originally published on Joel Selwood’s blog, which can be accessed here.