SAM Mitchell says Hawthorn has focussed on showing a harder, more aggressive edge since its upset 62-point loss to Richmond a fortnight ago.

The Hawks have responded strongly with big wins over North Melbourne and Port Adelaide since what Mitchell described as the "blatantly uncompetitive" loss to the Tigers.

Sunday's 46-point victory over the Power was an at-times spiteful affair.

"After the Richmond game we thought we had to play a little bit more physically," Mitchell said.

"We're not good enough to just roll up.

"We need to put ourselves in a position where we're a little bit on edge and we've got a bit of fight in us.

"We don't want to get reported or do anything outside the rules, but we know we need to play a physical brand of footy if we're going to be competitive."

The former Hawks captain said Lance Franklin's match-day report for a sling tackle on Port's Paul Stewart had not been a major talking point among his teammates.

But he expressed relief that the charge had been dropped by the match review panel.

"Every team wants to tackle aggressively and be physical, but when you're bigger and stronger than your opposition, you need to be a little bit careful of where they're landing," Mitchell said.

"That's part of being an AFL footballer in the modern game: you've got a duty of care to, in a sense, look after the opposition, even though they're in the way of what you're trying to get after."

The Hawks are now just one game outside the top four after winning five of their past six matches.

Mitchell said the players were still striving for consistency.

"We've done it for two weeks, but we've done it for stretches of two or three weeks before and not been able to back it up, so the challenge for us is being able to put those performances together," he said.

"I don't think we've had a fabulous season.

"We know that we've got a lot of improvement.

"We need to play some better footy, and hopefully we can start to do that on a more consistent basis."