JORDAN Lewis admits Hawthorn is still a work in progress this season but the three-time premiership star remains confident the Hawks are slowly building towards their best football.

Alastair Clarkson's side accounted for Adelaide on Thursday night to move into fifth position on the ladder with a 7-4 record but the performance didn't impress Hawthorn legend Jason Dunstall, who labelled it "pretty average" and accused them of trying to play "too pretty" on Triple M.

Lewis agreed there was still plenty of work in front of the Hawks as they look to regain their best form.

"Jason's been involved with this club and this group for over 10 years now, so he would understand if we're playing well or we're not playing well," Lewis said.

"He's probably one of our biggest critics and he's always, or nearly always, right.

"I would say that we've played some good football this year but probably not as consistently as we would have liked."

"We played some good football in patches (on Thursday) but, as he said, we're probably trying to bite off too much at times."

Lewis said that injuries and suspensions had played some part in the Hawks' inconsistencies this season but added that there were plenty of positives in the team's ability to win ugly when required.

He and skipper Luke Hodge fell foul of the Match Review Panel after a fiery encounter with North Melbourne in round five and copped two and three-week bans respectively.

There was plenty of physical niggle in Hawthorn's win over the Crows, but Lewis dismissed the notion that the Hawks were going out of their way to manufacture aggression against opposition players instead of going hard at the contest.

"We've got a pretty senior group so it's up to the players to really go out and play on the edge like we have in previous weeks," he said.

"I wouldn't say there's manufactured aggression because we obviously know that there are rules in place to prevent us from going over the line.

"We go out and try and play as hard as we can - if you do overstep the line then it's up to someone else to judge that but we thought it was within the rules of the game."