Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell is confident his side's wayward goalkicking against Essendon won't become "a pattern" for the rest of the season.

The Hawks booted 11.17 to lose to their close rivals by four goals, with the Bombers recording six fewer scoring shots for the afternoon.

The expected scores at the conclusion of the match had the Hawks ahead by close to ten points, leaving Mitchell's side to miss out on starting their season with a win.

Veteran sharpshooter Luke Breust managed 0.2 in the loss, while debutant Nick Watson (0.3) and key forwards Mabior Chol (2.2), Jack Gunston (1.2), and Mitch Lewis (1.2) each scored two behinds.

While frustrated with the result, Mitchell said he wouldn't change how much his side had prepared to strengthen their goalkicking over the summer.

"If I had the pre-season again I wouldn't change how much goalkicking we've done. We've done a huge amount," the Hawks coach said.

"So I don't think [our inaccuracies] are going to be a pattern. A lot players who missed shots on goal are beautiful shots.

"'Mabs' (Chol) missed a couple he would kick, and he's a beautiful shot on goal. I don't think too often in Luke Breust's career (he's had a day like today).

"He went goalless, 'the Wiz' (Watson) had 0.3 - all reasonably tough shots from him.

"They're all doing a lot of work on it, and I don't think it'll be a pattern. I've got confidence in the work they've done."

Mitchell also noted that the position of where the Hawks' chances arose in front of goal was also a factor in their missed shots, with the Brownlow medallist hoping to see the cohesion among the front half of the field improve in the coming weeks.

"I thought the connection wasn't great. The marks inside 50 weren't in great spots, there were wide, difficult shots," Mitchell added.

Embed from Getty Images

"Every club would love perfect mid-forward connection. We had 57 inside 50s, which is a good number and it's enough to kick a bigger score than what we did.

"That was one of the troubles we had last year, trying to find ways to score. Today we found ways to score, they just weren't goals."

Among the standouts for the Hawks in their Round 1 defeat was new recruit Massimo D'Ambrosio, who collected a team-high 29 disposals against his old side.

Playing across multiple lines in his club debut, D'Ambrosio impressed his new coach following a "nervous week" for the flanker.

"It's been a nervous week for him, playing against his old side," Mitchell said of D'Ambrosio.

"When you think of Massimo you really think of his work rate and his skill level. But I was really pleased with some of his tough moments.

"He had a couple of aerial contests where I [was nervous], thinking 'not sure you're going to walk out of that one'. But I was really pleased he was able to have a strong performance in his first game in the brown and gold."

The Hawks will eye their first win of 2024 next Saturday when they host Melbourne at the MCG at 4:35pm (AEDT).