Adam Mudra admits he came up short for Kiewa-Sandy Creek last season.
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The 41-year-old coached the Hawks to a flag in his second season in charge but saw the defending premier beaten in this year's preliminary final by Barnawartha.
Mitta United's Phil Packer questioned whether Kiewa had the hunger to go back-to-back.
"I can't disagree, in the sense that we didn't go back-to-back," Mudra responded.
"The facts are the facts and we didn't get the job done so maybe the hunger wasn't there.
"But when I reflect back, it's probably on me in the sense that I give the boys a program and dictate what we do from Monday to Friday.
"As the head coach, it comes back to me and I probably didn't give the boys the tools to be successful.
"It's important to reflect on why we didn't get the ultimate success and there are a few reasons why.
"Hunger? Maybe, maybe not, but it's probably the coach not giving the playing group the tools they needed to be successful."
The Hawks have played finals footy 13 years in a row, but Mudra knows a top-five finish is the minimum requirement.
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"I mark myself pretty hard. Maybe we've under-achieved a little bit and that's on me," he said.
"We've got enough talent at our football club to be really successful and the results are the results.
"We've only won one (in 2018), so I'm individually a bit disappointed by that, but all we can change is what's in front of us.
"I'm big on reflection, to look at the end of every season at what went right and what went wrong and then make changes accordingly to make sure we don't make the same mistakes again.
"We've got to make sure we keep improving. The competition doesn't stand still so we can't either.
"We need to make sure we're better for the experience because you give up a fair bit of time to get to training and games so let's make sure we get something out of it.
"Three years, two grand finals and a prelim - maybe I am a little bit unsatisfied with that."
Mudra knows there will be plenty of tough competition again in 2020.
"It's important to acknowledge Thurgoona are one of the teams to beat but I also think Tallangatta and Barnawartha have recruited really well and they're going to be pretty hard to stop," Mudra added.