HAWTHORN will use the second half of the season to continue to search for its next generation of Hawks premiership players after another loss to Gold Coast on Saturday. 

The travelling Suns defeated the Hawks by 16 points at the MCG, consigning Alastair Clarkson's men to the bottom four on the ladder ahead of their bye next week. 

Already without a bunch of premiership stars, including Grant Birchall, Cyril Rioli and Ben Stratton through injury, the Hawks lost key duo Luke Hodge (groin) and Luke Breust (illness) as late withdrawals before the game.

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It left the decade's most successful club with an unfamiliarly young line-up, but Clarkson was upbeat after the game, saying the Hawks were bullish about their future.   

"Many will perhaps wonder and be making comparisons to the Hawthorn sides of our good years in 2013-15 and even last year, but we only had 12 players playing today who played in our qualifying final [last year] and nine premiership players from the year before," Clarkson said.

"Our side's very, very different. It's not too dissimilar to 2009-10 in terms of the next wave of players coming through.

"We're finding the next generation of our players. They're no-names at the minute but with a lot of work, exposure and experience at the top level like they got today, then we're hopeful they'll progress to be good players for our footy club in the future."

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Billy Hartung was a late inclusion for Saturday's loss but made an impact with 25 disposals, while NAB AFL Rising Star contender Ryan Burton (19 disposals), Tim O'Brien (two goals) and  Daniel Howe (16) were among the emerging Hawks to make an impact against the Suns.

Blake Hardwick, Kaiden Brand, James Cousins, Kade Stewart and James Sicily were also inexperienced Hawks to face the Suns.

Clarkson pointed to the Hawks' history of bouncing back from tough periods and was optimistic he has the next wave of players coming through to do it again.

"We've had ebbs and flows a lot over the last 50 years. What this footy club has been great at is, once they've dropped away a little bit, they've found a way to get back up pretty quickly," he said.

"They have a book about our club called 'The Hard Way' for a reason. I don't know why, but we find a way to do it pretty tough from time to time, which is what we're going through right at the minute, but we've also got enormous faith our club, our supporters, our board and our administration get down and roll the sleeves up and get to work.

"That's what we're going to do this time as well. We're not pleased about being 4-8, but there was enough signs there today to think some of these lads are going to turn into good players for our footy club."

The Hawks fell to a 43-point deficit late in the third quarter against the Suns before booting the next six goals to get within nine points deep into the final term. Young Gold Coast forward Ben Ainsworth then took a clever mark close to goal but missed his shot, however, he was given a 50-metre penalty after Brand infringed on the mark. 

Clarkson couldn't be drawn on the decision to take Ainsworth to the goal line – a goal that ended Hawthorn's chances of a come-from-behind win – but said some calls were curious across the day. 

"I'm not allowed to comment on disgraceful umpiring, so I'm better off not saying anything," he said with a laugh.

"I don't know what it was for. We didn't lose the game because of the umpires this afternoon but there were a few dubious decisions over the course of the game. You just need to take the swings and roundabouts, and unfortunately we hit a few roadblocks in that regard today," he said.

Hodge was close to playing against the Suns despite carrying a groin complaint for the past two weeks, but is expected to be fit for the Hawks' next game in round 14 against Adelaide. Grant Birchall is also a chance to return after missing the past five weeks with a knee injury.