DESPITE achieving what it couldn't in 2011 - beat Collingwood - Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson says his team still has work to do if it is to be ranked with the competition's powerhouses.

As delighted Hawks fans left the MCG celebrating the 22-point Friday night win, Clarkson was already turning his attention to last season's other nemesis, Geelong.

"There was daylight between Geelong and Collingwood and the rest of the competition last year, and what we were trying to do over the summer was try to bridge that gap a little bit," Clarkson said after the match.

"Now, beating them in the first round of the season doesn't suggest that we're there. We've still got a lot of work to do.

"It's round one. We're pleased that we were able to beat a very, very good opponent tonight, but we don't get much respite.

"We get a rest for eight or 10 days and then we're straight into the Cats.

"That's the marathon nature of the season. We put the four points in the bank.

"I was really pleased with our effort and resilience to fight the game out like we did tonight and [now we] get ourselves ready for Geelong."

Hawthorn led the Magpies at three-quarter-time in last year's preliminary final and was run over in the final quarter, losing by three points.

The same looked like happening when a Dale Thomas goal put Collingwood in front at the nine-minute mark of the last quarter on Friday night.

But this time the Hawks ran the game out stronger, kicking clear with a devastating burst of five goals between the 14 and 26-minute marks.

"The momentum swings ebbed and flowed all night, and we were really pleased that we were able to gather the momentum in the last part of the game," Clarkson said.

The Hawks conceded 35 scoring shots, more than in any game last year.

Clarkson said the shootout nature of the contest was a symptom of the time of year and the conditions.

"We're disappointed that we allowed Collingwood to have so many shots at goal, but they'd be equally disappointed that we were able to hit the scoreboard so frequently too," he said.

"I think that's probably just a reflection, not of the sides and the way they play their footy, but round one of the season, players under fatigue, 130 minutes of footy, pretty warm night.

"I'd expect that to settle down a bit over the next few weeks."

Captain Luke Hodge missed the win with a calf injury, and seems unlikely to be fit in time for the round two Easter Monday clash with Geelong.

"He had some tightness in it early in the week, and we thought it was very, very minor, and then he trained yesterday and just jagged it," Clarkson said.

"So we'll wait and see how it settles … but he'd be pretty doubtful to play next week given it's a Thursday injury.

"Calves are just tricky little things."

The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL.