HAWTHORN midfielder Jordan Lewis expects his side to be able to move on quickly from Friday night’s upset loss to Richmond, saying too many of the Hawks weren't hungry enough in the defeat.
The Hawks registered just their second goalless quarter of the season in the opening term of their 18-point defeat to the Tigers, but hit back with a five-goal second quarter that pushed them ahead by two points at the main change.
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However, again they went goalless in the third quarter when the Tigers sprinted ahead, and Lewis said the club's disappointment was centred around its poor efforts after the main break.
"We didn't play our best football tonight, that was pretty evident. But we were still in front at half-time. There was some positives to take out of that," he said post-game.
"But they just came out and played well after half-time. I think the bottom line was that they were more hungry in the third quarter than what we were and they got the ascendancy. We just couldn't claw it back."
The loss ended Hawthorn's eight-game winning streak, which included some huge victories in recent weeks, including thrashings of Fremantle, the Sydney Swans and last week's record 138-point win over Carlton.
Despite that, Lewis, who was the Hawks' leading possession winner with 34 touches, said he didn't think it should be difficult for players to have the same effort and hunger heading into every game.
"It shouldn't be [hard to maintain it], but for different reasons people might not be playing on the edge," he said.
"Players go through that throughout the season, and unfortunately for us we had a few players who had it together and it affects the whole output.
"We're a resilient group and we usually bounce back from losses like that to band together and put in a big performance in Perth (against West Coast) next week.
"It's important to control your emotions. If you dwell on this game for too long, then you can bury your head in what happened and what went wrong."
The Tigers controlled the play against the back-to-back premiers by having 42 more uncontested marks and an attacking mindset.
They also won the contested possession count (147-126) to record their third win in their last four games over the Hawks, but Lewis said his team expected Richmond to bring that style.
"It was pretty obvious the way they were trying to play. We probably didn't defend as well as we'd have liked to and I think our ball use was down," he said.
"Players who are usually really good users of the ball were turning it over."
