In fact, the scoreboard arguably flattered the Hawks as the Lions gave a good account of themselves in a match many pundits expected them to lose by a far greater margin.

Leppitsch admitted to being 'excited' as his side closed to within two points of the Hawks midway through the third quarter, but the 227-game former Lion said he always had the suspicion his young side would run out of gas against the reigning premier.

"They were breaking two to three tackles going inside fifty so you tend to be, when you've got a few lighter bodies, you know that last quarter, sometimes it's run (and) sometimes you just can't hold the tackle and they steamroll you," he said.

Hawthorn piled on eight final-quarter goals to break the young Lions in front of 12,430 fans at Aurora Stadium and were clearly the more dangerous outfit going forward.

The Lions could only manage five goalkickers, as opposed to Hawthorn's 10, and Leppitsch acknowledged their lack of a cutting edge up forward was a source of some frustration.

"I guess the disappointing part when you're coming into three-quarter time, you look at the score and see you've matched them in scoring shots but you're 25 points behind the top team and you've actually been really competitive," he said. 

"That can be a little bit disheartening."

The Lions host Geelong in round two and will be hoping to conjure a similar result to the memorable come-from-behind victory they had over the Cats in Brisbane last season.

In the meantime, it will be a big week on the training track as Leppitsch looks to help his side build into the 2014 campaign while still managing expectations.

"We all want to win ... we're all humans, all competitive, but sometimes you have to look at it in the big picture," he said.