Hawthorn Coach Sam Mitchell says his side is making significant progress despite having faced two narrow losses in a fortnight.
The Hawks went down to the Crows at UTAS Stadium on Sunday in a three-point loss, just a week following a heartbreaking two-point loss to GWS.
"If you look at the progress we've made over the last few weeks it has been significant in a couple of areas in particular," Mitchell said post-game.
"One is being able to hold momentum... we've done a bit of work on that in the last couple of weeks and seen some progress.
"Unfortunately that progress hasn't led to a W in the win-loss column, but we feel as though in the last two weeks our performances have given us a much better chance."
Mitchell added that his side's effort and desire to compete couldn't be questioned throughout the course of the day.
"It's a game of small margins for us at the moment, we had some missed chances," Mitchell said.
"There were lots of parts of the game we were really pleased with - one of those was that we didn't concede three goals in a row today, which is a step in the right direction.
"I think the maturity of the group and leadership, while there is still plenty of upside, their understanding of key moments and what to do in those moments has improved.
"But when you play an in-form side that's playing really well you need to be tougher for longer - I think both teams would've ticked that box - but they were just a bit too good in the end."
The performances of Fergus Greene (three goals) and Conor Nash (28 disposals) particularly caught the eye of Mitchell, with the coach full of praise for the duo post-game.
"I think Fergus is working really hard and has found a way to hit the scoreboard every week, I'm really pleased with how he is going about it," Mitchell said.
"Nashy is growing into himself, he's still relatively new to the game.
"He's really good at playing his role, he’s a great teammate and a great player to coach because he'll do whatever is required.
"His energy and toughness around the ball has been really strong, I love seeing him get a bit of reward for the effort he is putting in."
Listen to Mitchell's full press conference below.
