The Bombers fell away against the Hawks after being within seven points at half time to be beaten by 51 in the Telstra Dome encounter.
But Knights will continue to back his youngsters, including defender Paddy Ryder - who stood opposite Hawthorn forward Lance 'Buddy' Franklin for a large part of his nine-goal performance - regardless of the result.
"Lance did beat Patrick on his merits on a few occasions, but the thing we've got to get with Patrick is when he wins contests, I want him to be a bit more daring himself," Knights said, after the loss.
"He would have learned a valuable lesson tonight and he's going to be a great player, along with Scott Gumbleton, for this club."
Knights refused to point the finger solely at Ryder for Franklin's impressive night out, and lamented a lack of midfield pressure for the big Hawk's output of 9.5.
"[Franklin] is an awesome footballer, he's got great athleticism and he marks at such a height that if decent ball is coming inside 50, he's difficult to stop," he said.
"I was really disappointed in the midfield because when [Hawthorn] started to win clearances and come inside 50 without much pressure, it really put a lot of extra pressure on Patrick and Dustin [Fletcher] and the guys down there.
"He's a very good player, he was on top of his game, and we weren't good enough to hold him."
He also criticised his players for failing to take opportunities against the top of the table side after "executing well" early.
"We were generating energy and we were also getting some good ball inside 50, and it's fair to say that we didn't take opportunities that presented early," he said.
"We probably could have ended up with a couple more goals in the first half, so that was disappointing.
"In the second half, it was basically the opposite. We didn't take the game on, we became stagnant, we went back off the mark too much and took too long."
On a positive note, Knights said it was pleasing to see Scott Lucas kick three goals in his second game back from a knee injury, and for out-of-form skipper Matthew Lloyd to take a "small step forward".
"I thought [Lucas] looked really dangerous early in the game; probably just his condition gave way a bit as the game went on," he said.
"He started to favour his leg a bit, but just got a bit of a knock there. It's great to have him back in the team because he does provide a good foil and he's a good goal kicker."
Tall man Jason Laycock was a late withdrawal following an ankle injury received at training on Friday. He is expected to miss one to two weeks.
