IT IS not all gloom and doom at Hawthorn, with coach Alastair Clarkson confident the reigning premier is better placed than it was this time last year to win the flag. 

The Hawks suffered their worst loss since 2009 last Saturday when they went down to Greater Western Sydney by 75 points at Spotless Stadium.

The defeat continued the Hawks' unconvincing 4-2 start to 2016, which has included a 30-point loss to Geelong in round one, an dominant 46-point win over West Coast in round two and then three consecutive wins by just three points over the Western Bulldogs, St Kilda and Adelaide respectively.

This form line has some commentators querying the Hawks' ability to win a record-equalling fourth straight flag this season, with club great Jason Dunstall ruling them out of premiership calculations on Fox Footy on Monday night.

But Clarkson told reporters on Thursday the GWS loss was not necessarily a sign that the Hawks' 2016 premiership defence had hit the skids.

"This time last year we were three wins and three losses, the only thing that was different was that we had a better percentage than we've got at the present time," Clarkson said. 

"But we're actually in a better position this time this year. 

"We need to play better, we don't want to dig a hole and put our head in the sand and not think that the competition is catching up to us a bit.

"But we think some of our best footy is still ahead of us this year."

The Hawks are ranked 17^th in the competition for contested possessions this season (-15.5 a game), down from ninth in 2015, fifth in 2014 and eighth in 2013.

Clarkson's men have won this count just once this season, against West Coast in round two, and last Saturday sunk to a season low, with the Giants winning a whopping 40 more contested possessions (154-114).

Clarkson conceded these numbers worried him "a little bit" but said they could be misleading.

"I think we've won contested ball five times out of the last 22 (games) or some ridiculous stat, and we've won a premiership in that time and played some pretty good footy," the Hawks coach said.

"You can get distorted a little bit with stats, but what it does suggest is that the times when we have lost that stat significantly we've lost quarters significantly. Sometimes we've had really bad quarters in that regard.

"So we need to address it – we're not silly enough to just be blinded by it – but we don't place as huge a relevance on it as others."

In better news for the Hawks, key forward Jarryd Roughead is slightly ahead of schedule in his return from a posterior cruciate ligament reconstruction in February that was initially expected to sideline him for the first half of the season.

Roughead participated in skills work at training on Thursday and Clarkson suggested he could return within a month.

"He's had a really good rehab to date and hopefully with a bit of ball work over the next couple of weeks he'll get himself right and hopefully be available to play within the next month or so," he said.

Clarkson said Luke Hodge's knee surgery had gone well on Tuesday, with the captain still expected to miss four to six weeks after what was "a standard cartilage repair".

The Hawks coach said his team was also likely to be without key defender James Frawley (concussion) for Friday night's clash against Richmond, but he expected Will Langford (quad) and Ryan Schoenmakers (groin) to be available for selection.