The Hawks are 3-3 and in fifth position on the ladder, with the side’s formline so far reading win, loss, win, loss, win and loss.

“We knew our form would be up and down a little bit, and to be honest, it hasn’t been too bad,” Monaghan said on Wednesday.

“Our three losses have all come from poor periods in a match, not from a lack of effort.

“We’ve got to be able to lock down better and not allow sides to get a run-on, but with a new and young group it was going to take a bit of time to iron out our structures, and that’s what we’re finding at the moment.”

With Golden Square also 3-3, its a clash of major importance for both sides, with the chance to improve to 4-3, or drop off the pace of the top three at 3-4.

“One of the issues we’ve been finding, and it’s similar to a lot of other clubs, is we’ve had a lot of players in and out each week, so we’re also wanting to get a bit of consistency into our playing group,” Monaghan said.

“We’re already up to 30 players used, and by the end of this weekend it will probably be 32 or 33, which over seven games is high in comparison to previous years I’ve coached.

“Even though this will be our seventh game, we’re still having new players play each week, so it’s still a work in progress.”

In a major blow for the Hawks, their Essendon VFL-listed midfielder Ben McPhee is facing a stint on the sidelines with a broken scaphoid