HAWTHORN coach Alistair Clarkson says his side can still make the finals despite losing a crunch game against Port Adelaide on Sunday afternoon.

The Hawks are now one game out of the top eight and face competition leaders St Kilda and Adelaide in the next two weeks.

"There are four games [left], and mathematically we’re a chance," Clarkson said.

"So until that’s extinguished we’ll keep having a crack at it."

Clarkson described his team’s loss to Port Adelaide on Sunday as a day of missed opportunity.

He put the 18-point loss down to the team failing to make the most of its chances and its inaccurate kicking, which included 2.7 from star forward Lance Franklin.

“We won the clearances and had more inside 50s, but just kicked inaccurately,” Clarkson said after the game.

“If we’d been able to take of our chances we might have been able to put more pressure on the Port Adelaide side,” he said.

Clarkson said that allowing Port Adelaide to play its running game was also a factor in the three-goal loss.

"Whilst they were able to retain scoreboard pressure on us, they continued to play their fast, free-flowing brand of footy, and we weren’t able to suffocate that," he said.

"When Port play their best footy, they like it to be a high-scoring game. When the game is played on those terms they’re a pretty difficult side to beat, and that’s what ended up happening."

Despite the Hawks’ good form in recent weeks, including a one-point loss to Geelong last week, Clarkson said Hawthorn was not looking too far forward and was working on developing its younger players.
 
"We’ve got to get some things right in the way that we play the game, and were not playing at our best and we’ll continue working at that," he said.

"We’re playing some young lads and giving them opportunities and every opportunity they get is great for their experience."