Hawthorn Coach Sam Mitchell has thrown praise behind youngster Josh Ward, describing the second-year Hawk as a “shining light” in his side’s disappointing loss to Carlton on Sunday.

Ward made an immediate impact in his return to the senior side following a stint at Box Hill, in what was his first AFL match since hurting his foot after Round 8.

The former Pick 7 finished with 28 touches for the afternoon - the second highest tally of his young career.

Speaking post-game, Mitchell said Ward’s comeback performance was one of the few positives to take away from the game.

“I’m desperately walking in here trying to find some positives, and I think Wardy was one of those,” Mitchell said.

“He hadn’t played AFL footy for a while, and he probably deserved a game last week and he was really disappointed to not get in.

“He was outstanding at Box Hill last week, and then he finally gets his chance this week, and I thought he performed really well.

“He didn’t look like a player that had been out for a long time, he’s in his second year and he just looks capable at the level.

“His game understanding has grown enormously in this time off; he’s utilised being injured really well and it has made him better as a player. I think we’ll see the best of his footy in the future.”

Mitchell also recognised the impact of forward duo Chad Wingard and Fergus Greene, who also made their respective returns on Sunday.

“For the most part whenever Chad got near the footy, we looked more likely to score,” Mitchell said.

“I think him and Fergus play as genuine forwards and we’ve struggled to score for a period now.

“Even some of our ball movement looks sharp, but we don’t put the final product through the goals, we couldn’t score at all in the first half.

“Fergus to his credit was able to get shots on goal, he just wasn’t able to nail them.

“When Chad gets involved in the play, we look much more likely to score. His work rate looked really good today and he was able to get on the end of it a little bit and gave us the polish we need in front of goal.”

The Blues kicked eight goals in the first half, while keeping the Hawks goalless until the third term.

Hawthorn went on to win the third quarter, and was much better after half-time, kicking five goals in the third term alone, but the effort came too late.

Mitchell said his side lacked energy throughout the course of the match, with early mistakes proving costly.

“We started the game so energy-less, post-game I asked the players three questions: ‘what happened, why and what are we going to do about it?’,” Mitchell said.

“There were a lot of aspects of today’s game that didn’t go our way that were partly within our control.

“There were a lot of issues in the game that came to the front very early, and then we were chasing our tails from there.

“We had the first couple of shots to start the game, but we just didn’t look like a team that was playing for its life.”

Hear more from Mitchell’s presser below.