HAWTHORN enters this weekend’s bye in a good position despite last Friday night’s loss, vice-captain Jordan Lewis says.

The Hawks have won six of their opening eight matches and are in second position on the ladder on percentage despite falling to the Swans last weekend.

Lewis says that while the Hawks would have liked to have made the perfect start to the year, the six and two record is a positive one heading into clashes against Port Adelaide, West Coast and Collingwood in the next six weeks.

“You’ve got to put it into perspective, we’re six and two at this stage of the year and we’re in a really strong position,” Lewis told hawthornfc.com.au

“There have been some learning experiences – we’re always searching for utopia, we want to be eight and zero at this stage of the year but unfortunately you can’t always get that.”

“We’re second on the ladder, so we have to take the positives out of that and build on those for the second third of the season and then move onto the last third later on.”

Gallant in the 19-point defeat, the Hawks were without premiership stars Sam Mitchell and Brian Lake to injury, lost Captain Luke Hodge before the bounce and Cyril Rioli to injury in the third quarter.

But the mounting injury list that has included stars like Brad Sewell and Ben Stratton in the first eight weeks has given senior opportunities to emerging youngsters like Will Langford and Mitch Hallahan.

Hallahan is one of five Hawks to make their senior debut in the opening two months of the season, joining Tim O’Brien (Round 1), Derick Wanganeen (Round 1), Angus Litherland (Round 2) and Billy Hartung (Round 6).

Each of those players has adapted well in their respective outings for the Hawks and made helped ease the pain of losing some of their premiership stars to injury.

The Hawks have unearthed a real talent in Langford, who made his debut last season and has played six games this year.

He has impressed in his role on some of the game’s best midfielders, while also being ranked third at the club for clearances and tackles.

In the absence of dual premiership midfielder Sam Mitchell on Friday night, Langford and Hallahan rose to the challenge and were amongst Hawthorn’s best in the loss to Sydney.

But with Mitchell expected to miss two months with a calf injury, it will be a challenge the pair will need to rise to against some of the league’s best teams soon.

Their performance on Friday night, however, has given Lewis further confidence and expectations of their abilities.

“They’ve been in the system for four or five years now so they’ve got those seasoned bodies that you need to play AFL football and especially to play in the midfield,” Lewis said.

“I thought they were both solid against the Swans and for us to have been a chance against them they needed to play well.

“We were in the game until there was about five minutes to go and that was probably a credit to those younger guys who pulled their weight throughout the game.”