HAWTHORN winger Isaac Smith concedes the Hawks aren't the feared unit they have been for much of the past decade after a patchy start to the season.
But in a warning to the rest of the competition, the triple-premiership star says their best is yet to come.
In the aftermath of Hawthorn's five-point stunner against Carlton, even master coach Alastair Clarkson admitted he was still struggling to figure out where his team sits in the 2019 pecking order.
The Hawks, who are yet to notch successive wins this season, are 11th on the ladder with a 3-3 record but are also just one win behind second-placed Fremantle.
Saturday's clash with last-placed Melbourne at the MCG looms as a danger game but also a golden opportunity for the Hawks.
MATCH PREVIEW Hawks v Blues
"We've been going up and down so to win back-to-back games ... that's where you start to put blocks together and teams start to fear you," Smith told reporters on Tuesday.
"But at the moment we're not playing that type of footy.
"... You don't necessarily want to be playing your best football in the first five or six rounds of the year, we haven't been and it would be nice to be playing a little bit better.
"But as the season goes I think our midfield and our whole team will grow together.
"We'll certainly be putting in better performances in the back end of the year."
Sunday's encounter with the Blues was an excellent example of the sort of inconsistency the Hawks are trying to shed.
Rampant Carlton led by as much as 36 points in a first-half blitz that rattled the Hawks in their Launceston fortress before they regrouped to snatch the premiership points in a frantic finish.
While that might be hard for fans to watch at times, Smith urged patience.
"It just takes time to jell," he said.
"We've had a little bit of turnover in the last couple of years but we ended up finishing top four last year.
"It would have been nice to win a final - we didn't but we feel like we can get back to that form.
"... I think our team has a hell of a lot of upside."
