ROSS Lyon insists he's had 'worse days' in Launceston as Dockers coach, but those days have never come with his side in a worse situation than right at the moment.

Last year's minor premiers currently sit at the bottom of the ladder - winless after eight games.

Smashed in a 'critical' third quarter, the Dockers saw a two-point half-time lead evaporate in the blink of an eye as the game was whisked away from them by eight Hawthorn goals on the back of a stiff northerly at Aurora Stadium.

Where the Dockers had pressured the Hawks and capitalised on turnovers during a promising opening half, they couldn't maintain the gameplan after the long break and, according to the coach, cost themselves in the process.

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"We spoke about the third quarter, we learned some lessons against Hawthorn playing the conditions," he said.

"We gave them ground position, they put it in and we didn't defend too well. We tried to force it up the corridor a bit when really we were instructed not to, so that was really costly.

"We've had worse days down here. We really thought, sitting there at half-time if we get the third quarter right we can win this game. We didn't get the third quarter right and that's really disappointing."

With several key players injured, Matthew Pavlich rested and others out due to lack of form, Lyon was quick to point out the 'upside' that remains for the Dockers in 2016 as well as the continued emergence of young talent like Lachie Weller, Connor Blakely and Matt Taberner.

"No-one is walking away saying we're not having a go," he said.

"Our spirit is really good and our young players… I thought there was some real growth."

"Our midfield in particular if you think with Sandilands, Fyfe and Mundy out of there and Barlow got dropped and Bennell who we'll have, none of them were there and we've got Connor Blakely whacking away, and (Michael) Walters and (Stephen) Hill. We're really quite thrilled with that.

"We'll continue down this path. We don't like losing but you're right, it's turning and it's turning slowly but we're really firm in what we want to do with the opportunities."

As well as time in the middle for Walters and Hill, among the obvious changes to the Dockers set-up on Saturday was the move to play David Mundy as a spare defender from the opening bounce.

Rather than settling in around the ball where he's made a name for himself during 237 games for the Dockers, the 192cm 30-year-old was solid in the air and at ground level in defence and according to Lyon it's a plan Fremantle are keen to persevere with.

Five talking points: Hawthorn v Fremantle

"Mundy going back we're going to stick with that," he said. "His ability to transition, but he's got to get his head around defending again because he had a couple of moments.

"We look better at the back with him there so we're going to continue with that.

"We want to build a younger midfield and he's 31 [sic] and not getting any younger. We'll just throw him in (midfield) like we did in the last quarter at different times.

"We want him to become an All Australian third tall defender now. He's done it as a midfielder and we'd like to do it again as a defender."

The Dockers host Richmond at Domain Stadium next Saturday and given the Tigers' struggles in 2016, both sides will be desperate to record a victory and Lyon believes the key to taking the points will be exactly the same as what he asks for every week.

"Same thing. Effort and growth. It's not complicated here," he said.

"I'm really concerned with us and it's all about improving your football. I've always had teams that have played with good system and effort.

"Our effort's pretty good but it's not exactly where we want to be and our system is clearly, obviously we're making some changes, but when we get it right it looks good."