Hawthorn Coach Sam Mitchell says his side struggled to respond to Geelong’s rapid shift of momentum during the third quarter of the club’s 82-point loss at the MCG on Easter Monday.

After leading the main break by nine points, Geelong came out firing in the third term booting 10 straight goals, while Hawthorn failed to register a major.

Mitchell said his side could not withstand the reigning premiers' power during the second half.

“The way that Geelong played in the third quarter – there was a complete change in the game – and we just couldn’t find any answers in any way,” Mitchell conceded post-game.

“I think as a playing and coaching group we sort of can handle some amount of adversity – but if it crosses that threshold, we begin to second guess ourselves and start to play on the back foot.

“We couldn’t get anything going for us – we were a bit shellshocked really.”

Mitchell said while there were some positives to come from his side’s effort in the first half, he admitted there were also many lost opportunities in the early stages of the game.

“In the first half we played some good footy... I thought we were clean, our tackling was good and our pressure around the ball was really good and it troubled them," Mitchell said.

“But we didn’t capitalise on a lot of our opportunities – and that’s been a little bit of a story for some of the earlier part of the year for us.

“In the third quarter they just blew us away really – I think everyone’s been waiting for Geelong to do that in the first three and a half games – and it came in the third quarter.

“We just had no answers for them, as harsh as it sounds to us. When they’re humming at their best – they’re obviously the premiers of last year – they were just too good for us.”

Hear more from Mitchell's post-game press conference below.