Hawk balance?

[Shotgun]

Seems that a lot of hawks are just an eye and blade with nothing on the back end like a hammer pole or a spike to counter balance it. Something like this:

I know that for an axe/hatchet you want a neutral balance and was just wondering if there was a reason hawk's were like this.

 

[safetyman]

No poll = lighter, faster, and easier to throw.

 

[Cpl Punishment]

Three reasons:
1.) The one above
2.) When you turn it around, with the bit trailing, on a hawk with just an eye, or a small hammer (i.e. still bit heavy), the trailing bit makes strikes very accurate and easy to control.
3.) In the early days, I think most hawks didn't have the eye made by driving a drift through the metal, but by folding the flat metal over a mandrel and forge welding it to form the eye.