While crediting his players for fighting back and pulling off a 26-point victory against the fast-improving Suns, Clarkson felt the Hawks were far from their sharpest.
"Gold Coast took it up to us, and full credit to them, but we just didn't play with the type of endeavour," he said.
"We didn't tackle and put pressure on the Gold Coast side enough in the first half, and we allowed them to control the ball far too easily."
Clarkson pointed out that Hawthorn had conceded only 42 inside 50s to the Suns, yet allowed 22 scoring shots.
Five talking points: Hawthorn v Gold Coast
"We just allowed those goals to be kicked far too easily, and that usually doesn't happen to us when our endeavour and our intensity is at a high level," he said.
The Hawks went 17 points behind when Gold Coast kicked the first goal of the third quarter, but hit back strongly with the next six goals.
"For our guys to respond in the manner that they did and get ourselves back in front by three goals by three-quarter time was a good effort," Clarkson said.
"We had to work damn hard to get ourselves back into the contest like that, so that's the pleasing part of the game.
"When it needed to be done, our guys did it.
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"But obviously coaches are searching for utopia all the time, and we're disappointed that we couldn't bring that right from the first bounce."
Clarkson also lamented some poor kicking for goal, with the Hawks' 10 behinds adding to several shots that went out of bounds on the full.
One of the main culprits was star forward Lance Franklin, who put three out on the full in the third quarter.
The four-time All Australian made a slow start to the game, earning Bronx cheers from Hawthorn fans when he marked and kicked his first goal late in the second quarter.
But he stepped up after half-time, finishing with 21 disposals and five goals.
"'Bud' (Franklin) was really scratchy early," Clarkson said.
"Thank goodness he had a good second half, but his first half was as scratchy as I've seen him for a long time; he couldn't take a mark, he fumbled.
"But he's such a good player and so hard to keep down for a whole game.
"Pleasingly for him and for us, he got going in the second half."
Clarkson said the Hawks were likely to regain both David Hale (ankle) and late withdrawal Grant Birchall (back) for next Sunday's clash with Melbourne, when they will be aiming for a ninth straight win.
"'Birch' and 'Haley' should both be OK, I think," Clarkson said.
"Both of them had interrupted training throughout the course of this week, and it just wasn't worth taking the risk.
"Hopefully they'll train early this week and get themselves right for selection."
