Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell says his club must learn the lessons from Sunday's deplorable loss to Port Adelaide.
At one stage, the Power led by 71 points late in the second term, as the high-scoring Hawks were kept to three goals to half-time.
"The first half of that game was unacceptable and not the way we want to play, not the style and level of gameplay that we try to produce, and (we're) trying to work out why," Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell said following the Round 5 loss.
"As you tirelessly try to work your way up the AFL ladder, there's lessons that need to be learned and we've been learning them, and we've been on a pretty steep learning curve over the last few years and we know we're going to need to handle big moments, big games, pressured gamesโฆ and this was one of them and we've passed some of those tests, and we've failed others. Obviously, tonight we failed that test."
Plenty was made about the concluding contest of Gather Round, following last year's semi-final epic and subsequent post-match furore which saw Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley slapped with a $20,000 fine for 'conduct unbecoming'.
Hinkley produced an aeroplane gesture, which had been the essence of the commentary in the lead-up to the Round 5 clash.
Mitchell said that the discussion around goal celebrations didn't play a part in the damning defeat, instead believing the Power were superior on the night.
"They talk all the time about, if the opportunity came up, what celebrations they might do. Obviously, everyone who's done a celebration like that, they've prepped for it at some point, so you can look at that and think that we were talking about it. But it certainly wasn't a collective discussion," Mitchell said.
"The off-field stuff I didn't think was the issue, I think it was what happened on the fieldโฆ There were plenty of issues on the field, and they're the ones that we're going to be trying to sort out.
"They dictated the game, they instigated the game, they taught us a lesson."
Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell is confident hurt midfielder Conor Nash hasn't sustained a "worrisome" wrist injury from Sunday's loss to Port Adelaide, while fellow onballer James Worpel could be under an injury cloud after ending the game on the bench with a suspected leg injury.
The pair's concerns follow Will Day's major setback, with the star midfielder set for at least three months on the sidelines.
The traditional Easter Monday clash poses as an early finals encounter between Hawthorn and Geelong.
