HAWTHORN coach Alastair Clarkson expected a response from his players after they were handed "some pretty savage lessons" in the qualifying final loss to West Coast, and they did not let him down against Adelaide on Friday night.

Hawthorn was comprehensively outplayed by West Coast at Domain Stadium last Friday night, with some viewing the 32-point loss as a sign the reigning premier's quest to win its third consecutive flag was doomed.

But the Hawks quickly put such critics in their place in Friday night's second semi-final, blasting from the blocks with an eight-goal first quarter that put both the game and their bona fides as a premiership contender beyond doubt.

Clarkson told reporters after the game that the Hawks' 74-point win over the Crows had been the response he had been hoping for.

"The whole footy club was disappointed with our effort last week – the 22 players more than anyone – so we expected a response, and we got it tonight," Clarkson said.

"We knew it was going be tough. Adelaide have been playing really good footy and they're a really dangerous side.

"It was important that we applied a lot of pressure to the Adelaide side throughout the course of the night. We had a lot of the footy, but what was pleasing was our pressure skills were really good tonight.

"As a collective, right across the group, we prepared and approached this game a lot better than we did last week.

"We learnt some pretty savage lessons (in) the West Coast game."

Luke Hodge was one player who came in for criticism after the qualifying final loss, but the Hawks skipper responded in typical style against the Crows with 29 possessions and four goals, including two in the decisive first term.

James Frawley was given the big job on Crows captain Taylor Walker, and held him to one goal and little of his usual influence, while Luke Breust also returned to form on Friday night, kicking a game-high six goals after being held goalless in his previous three games.

Clarkson was reluctant to sing the praises of individuals after the game, preferring to focus on his team's wide spread of contributors.

"We had 22 contributors tonight, that's what it takes," the Hawks coach said.

"'Hodgey' is a leader of our club. We expect him to play his role, just like we do the other 21.

"If we get consistent contributions from most of our players, then we put ourselves in a really good position to win games of footy.

"Unfortunately, we probably had one or two that did that against West Coast and we had 21 or 22 tonight, and that makes a significant difference to your ability to win games.

"It's very, very basic, but that's nearly as simple as it is – if we get solid contributions from a lot of our players, then we win games of footy."

Key defender Brian Lake left the ground in the second quarter of Friday night's game with an apparent stomach injury and went to the Hawks' rooms for treatment, but returned soon after and played out the rest of the game.

Clarkson expected Lake would be fit for the preliminary final.

"I don't know if he got winded or whacked or whatever, but he's OK," Clarkson said.

"(He) came back on and played OK for us except for the handball in the last quarter.

"He did some good things."