Hawthorn Coach Sam Mitchell says his side’s attack remains a work in progress after falling to the Western Bulldogs by 29 points on Saturday night.

The Hawks started the match in scintillating fashion to lead by three points at the main break, but were then faced with a costly second half.

Mitchell's side won the contested possession count by 18 and were on top in the clearances but couldn’t maintain their run, kicking just two goals after half time.

Despite the result, the coach was pleased to be able to shut down some of the Bulldogs’ strengths, including Conor Nash’s role on 200-game milestone man Marcus Bontempelli.

Bontempelli was held to just four touches in the opening half before finishing with 20 for the match.

“Before the game you think, ‘why would you get beaten against the Bulldogs?’” Mitchell said.

“You say well, ‘they’ll give you a touch up at clearance, you can’t stop their run and gun handball game, and then there’s Bontempelli and Tim English’ – they’re the things you’re thinking about.

“But we won contested possession by 20, we won the clearance count.

“I thought Nash did a great job on Bontempelli…I thought he quelled him for the most part and Ned Reeves on English was a big win.

"A lot of those aspects went really well but at the end of the day they're a good side and we just couldn't stay with them.

“There were so many just missed chances, we couldn’t put them away and hit the scoreboard often enough and quickly enough.”

Mitch Lewis made a welcome return for his first game of the year after missing the season’s start through injury.

Although he was dangerous in the forward line, he wasn’t able to convert all his opportunities up forward, kicking 1.4 from 16 disposals and a career-best 11 marks.

But the 24-year-old nabbed four marks inside 50 in the first half alone, and three contested grabs in promising signs for the Hawks future.

Mitchell expects the key forward’s presence will give his group further confidence to attack.

"We've had to try to find a way to create goals and you do what we do with a little bit more confidence when (Lewis) is there," Mitchell said.

"He's a beautiful set shot, I'm not concerned about his goalkicking ... he's worked hard on it over a long period of time.

“It didn’t work for him today, but it was his first game back since Round 20 last year.

“I think when you watched him bounce around in the first part of the game you thought 'ok, this guy's definitely ready to play'.

“I was really pleased with his performance and the medical team to get him ready to play in that manner for his first game back.”

Hawthorn also blooded two debutants with Max Ramsden and Josh Weddle earning their respective AFL call-up’s.

Mitchell added that it was pleasing to be able to give two more of his young players exposure at the top level.

“It’s such a great experience for them – neither of them have been at the club for even a year,” Mitchell said.

“Their learning curve is extremely steep in game one, I was pleased we were able to play two debutants today and they loved it.”

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