HAWTHORN's eight-point loss to Sydney was a "missed opportunity", but the Hawks only had themselves to blame after being out-hunted around the contest by a "hungrier" Swans team, coach Alastair Clarkson says.
Less than two goals separated the teams for all of Friday night's game at the MCG, with the Hawks' 11-point lead at three-quarter time the widest margin of the match.
The Hawks were still clinging to a three-point lead at the 25-minute mark of the final quarter, but late goals to Luke Parker and third-game hero Ben Ronke, who starred with seven majors, helped the Swans get over the line.
Read: Match report - Hawthorn v Sydney
Clarkson was quick to point out after the game that Hawthorn had its opportunities to win, having dominated the inside-50 count 62-39.
But the Hawks coach said the Swans' dominance of contested possessions (163-141) and clearances (40-31) had proved decisive.
"(The inside-50) statistic was probably the only statistic that we were happy with for the night, to be fair," Clarkson said.
"I thought Sydney hunted the ball in the contest a lot better than we did over the course of the night.
"When it comes to a close game, only two goals separate the two sides for the whole of the night, sometimes the team that wants it the most wins the game.
"And I felt over the course of the game, to the credit of Sydney, they were just a bit hungrier and a bit more polished with using their numbers over the ball than what we were."
The Hawks' struggles at the clearances coincided with quiet nights from Tom Mitchell (20 possessions), Isaac Smith (16) and Jaeger O'Meara (14), with Mitchell well held by George Hewett and Smith by Harry Cunningham.
Clarkson noted his run-with midfielder Daniel Howe had also performed an extremely effective job on Swans captain Josh Kennedy (19 possessions), but said Sydney's other midfielders had stepped up to cover his unusually low output.
"The significant playmakers that you think for each side would make significant contributions, which is perhaps Kennedy for Sydney and Mitchell for us, didn't have terrific games in terms of their possessions tally and influence," Clarkson said.
"But where Sydney were a lot better was their support players who stepped up when their captain is not getting a lot of the footy.
"They were much better than ours and they had a greater depth of midfield touches than what we did. Ultimately that gave them control of the game and a winning margin at the end."
Clarkson lamented a free kick paid against Hawks captain Jarryd Roughead for blocking in a marking contest against Dane Rampe and Heath Grundy in the Hawks' forward 50 during the final quarter, saying a similar infringement by the Swans' pair a minute later had not been paid.
"Sydney block better than any other team in the competition in their back end for Grundy and Rampe to take those marks," Clarkson said.
"Those swings and roundabouts can affect the margin of the game sometimes, and we didn't get them.
"They're very sophisticated with the way that they defend, but at different stages they're getting away with blue murder too.
"So we need to look at different ways that we can try to move the ball forward against that side. They're a very, very good defence, very disciplined, very, very sophisticated with the way they go about it.
"But we need to find better way to try to combat that as well."
