Hawthorn Senior Coach Sam Mitchell discusses his side's 55-point loss to Melbourne in Round 2.

On the result:

"Two weeks in a row we’ve given up an enormous amount of field position through centre bounce and clearance work. That puts you behind the eight-ball especially against a side like Melbourne. We decided to possess the ball a bit more, we did keep their defence honest, we just couldn't penetrate the front-half of the ground. Having to attack from the back-half all day is just too difficult against a side as good as them. Melbourne were so consistent across the four quarters."

On missed opportunities:

"I thought in the second quarter our pressure was really strong, it was a much closer brand of what we would like to play on a more consistent basis. We were able to compete with them, so we went into half time optimistic thinking we’d be able to create some chances. But the third quarter we probably shot ourselves in the foot a bit. We had plenty of chances to go inside 50, we just didn’t take them. They blew us away early, and then we had periods where we could control the game, and it starts to work, we start to look more potent, but we missed some opportunities. We certainly missed some chances in front of goal through that period late in the first quarter and then through the second as well."

On the week ahead:

"A clear focus for us is being able to sort out the centre bounces… last year we were really strong in that area. That’s going to be a heavy focus for us next week. I imagine there is going to be some changes, whether that’s personnel or system, or both… I suspect there is going to be something different the next time we play Geelong on Easter Monday. We’ve got a couple of extra days now to recover and make sure we’re really sound to play against a Cats side that's humming along."

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