Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson maintains the Hawks have been largely unaffected by the "hysteria" associated with their winless start to the season.
The Hawks were savaged in the media this week after their second 86-point thrashing in a row.
They're staring down the barrel of an 0-5 win-loss record when they host West Coast at the MCG on Sunday.
But a defiant Clarkson says the Hawks will pay no heed to outside noise as they work through their form slump.
"It sounds bizarre but whether we win or lose our program doesn't really change," Clarkson said on Saturday.
"I know there's a lot of hysteria outside of the footy club but that's certainly not the case within the footy club.
"We are disappointed and we're frustrated that we're not playing as well as we'd like but it's all just part of the journey.
"We've enjoyed some really good times and right at the present time we're not playing anywhere near as well as we can.
"We know we need to work through that.
"It's not easy, (but) we've got to roll the sleeves up and do some hard yards and a bit of soul-searching in terms of the way we play."
Clarkson admitted he could have made a stronger statement at the selection table given his side's horrid form.
However, he settled on dropping former Crows player Ricky Henderson in favour of Daniel Howe.
The four-time premiership coach couldn't find room for free agent signing Ty Vickery, who has recovered from the back tightness that ruled him out against Geelong last week.
"If Ty had been playing well and strongly he would have been straight back in the side but that wasn't the case," Clarkson said.
"But after the performances of the last two weeks, strangely enough, what's the point of dropping one or two players when you could really make a statement and drop 16 or 18 after the way that we've gone?
"We're probably just better trying to solidify our group and hopefully get better bit by bit."
The much-anticipated return of Hawk-turned-Eagle Sam Mitchell didn't materialise after the veteran onballer was ruled out with an ankle injury.
Forward Jack Darling returns from an ankle injury in the only change made by West Coast coach Adam Simpson.
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