The Hawks and Saints played out one of the games of the season at Etihad Stadium in round 17 with a late Ben McEvoy goal earning St Kilda a share of the points.
Hawthorn has since lost its past two games to Port Adelaide and the Sydney Swans to put its finals hopes in jeopardy, but Lewis said his side wasn’t feeling any mental or physical after-effects.
“With our recovery and the people around the club, you can recover after any game these days because we’re so professional,” he said.
“You can look back on that game and probably blame it on that but every side comes off a hard game every week and they’ve got to back it up. We didn’t do it last week and we probably didn’t do it this week as well.”
However, Lewis warned that the Hawks could not afford another early lapse against Melbourne next week if it wanted to remain in the race for a finals berth.
The Hawks conceded 10 first-half goals against the Swans on Saturday and trailed by 47 points at half time before eventually losing by 44 points at the SCG.
The loss sent Hawthorn to eighth place, just half a game ahead of North Melbourne and Lewis said the players were fully aware their early lack of intensity had cost them dearly.
“We’ve got to have some honest feedback, I think. We probably didn’t come to play in the first half and we know that. Hopefully it won’t happen three weeks in a row,” he said.
“We’ve got a tough game next week against Melbourne and if we don’t come to play, they’re going to do the same thing.”
Lewis said the reason for the Swans’ early dominance on Saturday was simple: the home side just wanted the ball more.
“We weren’t prepared in the first quarter to put our head over the ball and we knew Sydney would come into this game with their backs against the wall. We didn’t match them in the first half, which was a really disappointing thing for us,” he said.
“To our credit, we came back in the second half and we really showed that if we bring the right attitude, what we can do. But 10 [first-half] goals to peg back is probably just a little bit too much.”
Lewis said the Hawks gave themselves every chance of pulling off a comeback win after booting six goals to three in the third quarter, but Jesse White’s early goal for the Swans put paid to their hopes.
The rugged midfielder was one of the architects of Hawthorn’s second half revival with 10 disposals, 2.1 and a goal assist.
“Another couple of guys were having a bit of down day and I thought [I could] come into the midfield and add a bit of freshness and a bit of energy around the stoppages,” he said.
“I really tried to do something and fortunately, I kicked a few goals and helped a few but individuals don’t win games. It’s a team effort and we didn’t have that today.”
