The Hawks came under fire from club greats Jason Dunstall and Dermott Brereton for the weekend's 43-point loss to Essendon, with Brereton also criticising the players' post-match willingness to shake hands and share a laugh with their opponents.
Brereton told SEN: "One thing that sickened me was that after running up the white flag at three-quarter time, to see Hawthorn players walk around and mill around out in the middle of the ground and say, 'Oh, I haven't shaken hands with him. I will shake his hand now. Oh, there's another one I have missed shaking the hand of'."
"Once the game finishes, I'm never going to be a sore loser," Hodge said.
"If I see a bloke (an opposition player) there, I'm going to go shake his hand and say, 'Good luck for the rest of the year'.
"As far as blokes smiling, I probably don't agree with that, but as far as shaking the hand and saying, 'Well done, mate, [you were] too good on the night', I've got no problems."
However, Hodge said he couldn't argue with Brereton and Dunstall's disappointment in the Hawks' performance.
"Whenever you lose and play footy like that it does [hurt] - it really hurts," he said.
The 2008 Norm Smith Medallist said defensive pressure won matches and that was where the Hawks needed to improve.
"The last couple of weeks we haven't done much of it, but our first three games, our defensive pressure was really good," he said.
"That's something we will focus on."
Hodge was optimistic the Hawks could turn their season around.
"You'll see this Saturday. We'll come out fighting this week and see how good we can be," he said.
The left-footer said he had no issues with club president Jeff Kennett putting all personnel on notice.
"What we produced on Saturday night, we had no ticker and it was disappointing," Hodge said.
"The hunger will be there this week."
