HAWTHORN'S undersized defence can get the better of opposition forward lines, but Alastair Clarkson admits it struggled against Geelong's top-heavy forward line on Friday night.

Tom Hawkins, James Podsiadly, Trent West and Brad Ottens all made life difficult for the Hawks, with defenders Josh Gibson and Ryan Schoenmakers looking out of their depth at stages in the 31-point loss to the Cats.

Clarkson said it was a situation he has had to deal with for much of the season after long-term injuries to Ben Stratton and Stephen Gilham.

"We've gone in with an undersized back six for the whole year because we've been forced to do that. We've got no other option. We've got no tall guys who are six foot four, six foot five [in] stature who can play consistently well in that area of the ground," Clarkson said after the match.

The Hawthorn coach was not critical of the defensive stocks he had at his disposal, taking time to praise the tireless efforts of Gibson in particular.

"We haven't got a hell of a lot of flexibility back there. 'Gibbo's' done marvelously well throughout the course of the year, but he's undersized and at different stages competes well outside his weight division," he said.

The Hawk defenders had plenty to deal with, as Geelong had 69 entries inside 50.

Clarkson conceded his problems were not isolated to one area of the ground against the Cats.

"They smashed us with contested ball, particularly contested marking. Their big fellas really hurt us tonight, particularly in the ruck. That allowed them first possession of the footy and ultimately we got smashed inside 50," he said.

"When Geelong have 69 inside 50s, you're never going to win a game of footy. That was it in a nutshell. They were harder, tougher, cleaner in close."

The Hawthorn coach said constantly being beaten out of the middle meant it was hard to keep morale up.

"It can become very dispiriting when the ball clears and you've hardly touched the footy," he said.

"In some cases you haven't touched the footy before it goes through for a goal and you've got to recharge the batteries, get back to the centre and have another crack at it. We just weren't good enough in that area tonight."

Despite the disappointing loss, the Hawks have a chance to redeem themselves in next week's clash with the winner of Saturday night's game between St Kilda and the Sydney Swans.

"We lick our wounds, gather the troops again tomorrow morning, see where we're at, see which guys are sore, get ourselves ready, go and watch the Saints v Sydney match tomorrow night, work out who our opponent is and get cracking again next week," Clarkson said.

"The season's still alive for us. We weren't good enough tonight against a very good opponent."