HAWTHORN coach Alastair Clarkson has refused to blame a pair of contentious late free kicks for his side's stunning collapse against the Western Bulldogs on Sunday.

James Worpel and James Sicily were both at the centre of two controversial calls, which came amid Hawthorn throwing away a five-goal lead at the final change to lose by 19 points.

Worpel was penalised for breaching the centre circle prior to a restart, with Jack Macrae taking full toll of the infringement to draw the Dogs level with just five minutes to play.

From the resulting centre bounce, Sicily was adjudged to have shoved Josh Schache in the chest, with the Dogs forward handed a free kick directly in front of goal.

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However, Clarkson refused to concede that the free kicks helped swing the game in the opposition's favour, saying the Dogs' overall dominance was the difference on the day.

"I'm not really interested in making that the debate," the Hawthorn coach said.

"All I know is the best side won on the day. That wasn't us. The Bulldogs deserved their win.

"Sometimes you make your own luck on those sorts of things. They had the momentum and they made their own luck. They get the chocolates."

WATCH Alastair Clarkson's full post-match press conference

The free kick against Sicily, which saw him penalised for shoving Schache, was one of a number of calls made after off-the-ball strikes to the chest throughout the match.

But Clarkson wasn't drawn into the debate over whether there would be a crackdown on such actions, instead focusing on his team's inability to gain control of the match.

"There's no point sooking over little things," he said.

"Over the course of the game, we had plenty of chances over 120 minutes to play better footy and we didn't do it.

"To the Western Bulldogs' credit, when they had their chances they made the most of them."

The Dogs had controlled the first half, leading the inside 50 count 41-15 at half time, but failed to make their territorial dominance count on the scoreboard until the final quarter.

It led to Clarkson suggesting that the Hawks had been fortunate to find themselves in a winning position in the first place, before their drastic demise in the last term.

"You get what you deserve in footy and we didn't deserve to win today," Clarkson said.

"The Western Bulldogs were the better side and they deserved their win. We didn't deserve to be five goals in front at three-quarter time, but you take it when it appears for you.

"We got our just desserts. The best side won today."

Clarkson was unable to provide injury updates for Liam Shiels and Shaun Burgoyne, who both left the field in the second half due to hamstring injuries.

"I just knew they couldn’t come back onto the ground," Clarkson said.

"I don't know. They'll get scans during the week. I’m not even really sure (of the injuries). It was soft tissue stuff and they couldn't come back onto the ground.

"Once the call comes from the docs that they're out, we don't even worry about what it is. We just move on to try to win the game."