Midfielder Sam Mitchell puts the Hawks' hard-fought win over the Demons down to the side’s increased maturity.

After leading by as much as 42 points in the third quarter, the Demons rallied and got within seven points of the Hawks before Tim Boyle booted a major that settled the home side.

Twelve months ago, Mitchell says, the result might have been reversed.

"It certainly would have gone right down to the wire again. I guess with a little bit more experience in our group, they're the games that we've got to win if we're going to be a finals contender in seasons to come," he told hawthornfc.com.au after the win.

"It was good to get that one up on the board, and to know that when teams are coming at us, we can surge again.

"Melbourne was good. They just kept coming and coming, and to our credit, we were able to hold them off."

Mitchell said one of the highlights from Monday's win was the fact that the side has learned how to alter the pace of the game on occasion, although it still needs to find consistency in that area.

"We were able to change the way we were playing a couple of times, slow the game down when we needed to. At other times we tried to and it didn't seem to work for us," he said.

"That's one area we still have to improve on."

Mitchell said it was important to make a statement against the Demons, after the Hawk’s copped criticism from not only the media, but also coach Alastair Clarkson after their disappointing performance against the Lions.

"We copped a bit of a rocket from ‘Clarko’ this week, and I think that was pretty important," he said.

"We all got ourselves up and going. The most important thing is that we all stick together.

"We had a hard week with everyone jumping on our back and writing us off, and I think we really came together after that and were able to play some pretty good footy. We were nowhere near as selfish and insular as we were last week."

"I guess nine days is a long time to wait to redeem ourselves from the week before, but it was good to get our season back on track," he said.

"Sometimes you forget what sort of effort it takes to win a game of AFL footy, and we were probably guilty of that last week.

"We didn't really attack the ball, or go after it, and we were able to do that today and turn it around."

A high point of the match was the improvement in the form of Mark Williams, who, after a slow start to the year, kicked six goals and was the Hawks' most prolific forward.

"He's probably had a little bit of a quiet start to the season with his pre-season and last week, but when the whole team is playing exciting, running footy, it's going to give him more opportunities to lead up and take those marks and kick those goals," Mitchell said.

"It was a good step forward for him, and for most of the side."