JOSH Gibson insists Hawthorn's proud playing group will hit back and respond to the "reality check" from Greater Western Sydney when the Hawks face Richmond on Friday night.

The Hawks lost to emerging premiership threat GWS by 75 points on Saturday – their biggest defeat since an 88-point loss to the Western Bulldogs way back in round 14, 2009.

Coming after last-gasp wins over the Western Bulldogs, St Kilda and Adelaide, the result against from the Giants has sparked questions about the end of Hawthorn's era of dominance.

"I've heard that (end of an era) every year, there's always going to be doubters, and for us it's about the four walls of this place, we have a system that we believe in and we know that we haven't been playing the way we want to play," Gibson said.

"From inside here, we believe we can still play good footy. We've shown it in patches this year, but the competition's so even you've got to play good footy week-in and week-out and four quarters of it, and that's something we haven't done of late.

"We've got a very proud group of players that want to get out there and rectify the situation.

"We know we haven't been playing great footy over the last few weeks and we've managed to get a couple of wins and on the weekend we got a reality check from a good side.

"We're fully aware the way we played on the weekend isn't acceptable."

Critics have pointed to Hawthorn's contested possession record this season as a catalyst for the triple-defending premiers' issues.

Hawthorn is ranked 17th for contested possession (-15.5 per game) and has lost the hunt for the ball in five of the six matches this season.

The Giants exposed the Hawks with their hunger at the contest (+39) and dominated the clearances 47-29, putting Hawthorn's backline under extreme pressure.

"It's been documented that our contested footy's down and that's a pretty important stat in the game," Gibson said.


"We're not going to shy away that we need to be better in that area. That's one that I know everyone loves hearing, contested footy, and that's an area we've got to get better.

"And (there's) a lot of other areas that we need to improve on."