HAWTHORN coach Alastair Clarkson has rued missed opportunities in front of goal in his team's 27-point loss to second-placed Brisbane in Launceston on Saturday, as the Hawks' finals hopes took a nosedive. 

Clarkson's men held sway in several key statistical categories – leading inside 50s (55-40), clearances (42-33), centre clearances (13-6), disposals (369-339) and scoring shots 25-22 – but were let down by inaccuracy in their 13.9 (87) to 7.18 (60) defeat.

Lions coach Chris Fagan had earlier conceded he felt "lucky" to have won given the Hawks inaccuracy and his own team's efficiency, and Clarkson also cited conversion as the major factor in the loss.

Jack Gunston shows the frustration of another missed opportunity. Picture: AFL Photos

However, although a win would have lifted the Hawks to level on points with eighth-placed Adelaide (which lost to Carlton), Clarkson said there was "more encouragement out of today's game than discouragement".

"There's a lot of aspects of the game that we're pretty happy about," the Hawks coach said post-match.

LIONS ROLL ON Full match coverage and stats

"We were playing a good opponent and in a lot of facets of the game we really served it up to them today, but the one key component of the game is to put the score on the scoreboard.

"That's a reflection of the polish of your finishing skills. Brisbane kicked them when they had their opportunities and we didn't kick them when we had ours.

"But that's one of the easiest things to fix.

"The one stat that hurt us is the one that matters the most in the end."

Clarkson felt the "rot had set in" early, when the Hawks wasted a chance to capitalise on their stoppage and defensive work.

"(At half-time) we should, in my view, have been three or four goals in front of the Brisbane side (instead of being two points down) given the manner in which we were playing the game," he said.

"But we just didn't finish off the work that we did further up the field. We need to get better in that space."

WATCH Alastair Clarkson's full post-match media conference

To make the finals, Hawthorn needs to win each of its last four games and hope other results go its way.

In the run home the Hawks face North Melbourne at the MCG on Friday night, followed by premiership contender Greater Western Sydney in Canberra, Gold Coast at Marvel Stadium and reigning premier West Coast in Perth.

Clarkson said the Hawks would give themselves a chance of making the finals while it was still a mathematical possibility, but insisted he was more interested in helping his team become a serious contender in the next one or two years.

"We've been to five Grand Finals in my time here and won four of them. What that told us is when we did get to the big dance our game was resilient enough to be successful when it mattered," he said.

"Right at the moment we're yet to solidify that in our own mind, both with our personnel and our method, but it will come.

"We've seen that with the Brisbane side and we're starting to see it with Carlton right now, and we're not too far away."