HAWTHORN coach Alastair Clarkson says the move of superstar Lance Franklin to the midfield in the last quarter of his team's four-point win over Adelaide at AAMI Stadium was pivotal in the victory.

Clarkson praised Franklin – who was reported in the second quarter for engaging in rough conduct on Adelaide midfielder Michael Doughty – for getting his side moving at a critical juncture of the game.

Franklin had fought an massively entertaining battle with Crows centre half-back Nathan Bock, but had been held to just one goal while the Adelaide defender had racked up more than 30 possessions.

"Moving Franklin into the midfield in the latter part of the game certainly helped us and gave us some real flow," Clarkson said after the match.

"He'd kicked six behinds, so he was still getting opportunities. But it wasn't so much that he wasn't making the contribution that we'd have liked him to in the forward line, it was more that we needed to get some more run through the middle of the ground.

"With (Chance) Bateman going down we didn't have the run and fluency through the middle to penetrate the Adelaide midfield. We tried a number of things but in the end we thought Lance going into the midfield might give us a little bit of run that we needed, and as it turned out it was an important move for us."

Clarkson praised his team leaders for standing up when they needed to in the second half. Sam Mitchell was outstanding in the third term when the Crows were threatening to take the game away, while Luke Hodge was superb in the last term, including coolly slotting the winning goal.

"That's when you really need your leaders standing up for you. Mitchell, Hodge, (Campbell) Brown in particular in the latter part of the game, they were just outstanding.

"To have that composure late in the game from your leaders is really important.

"But we just had 22 guys that fought really hard over the course of the night, playing against 22 opponents that were doing pretty much the same. It was just a terrific tussle and we were pretty fortunate we had our noses in front at the right time."

Clarkson said the win – the Hawks first over the Crows in Adelaide since 1994 – would provide his side with even more self-belief entering the second half of the season.

"We haven't won here for a long, long period of time. We've got a very high regard for the way Adelaide go about their footy.

"You play games like tonight and you get enormous confidence and self-belief. To play a night game, in Adelaide, on a ground that you haven't performed very well at in the past, gives the players enormous belief.

"But it's just another hurdle you need to overcome; we've got another big challenge next week against the Kangaroos and we move on pretty quickly. You can't dwell too long on either wins or losses in this competition.

"We'll savour the victory but we could have quite easily walked out of AAMI Stadium tonight with our tails between our legs with a loss next to our name.

"It was very tough for both teams, but it's a real credit to our guys that we found a way eventually."

Clarkson flagged the return of Shane Crawford in the "next couple" of weeks, while Max Bailey will make his first appearance after a knee reconstruction for the Box Hill Reserves tomorrow.