HAWTHORN defender Grant Birchall says the players still believe they can make an impact in September despite winning their first match in a month on Sunday. 

With the 21-point win over Melbourne - the Hawks’ first since round 16 - all but sealing them inside the top eight with two rounds remaining, Birchall says the players still have faith in their chances this year.  

“We’re definitely good enough to be in the eight,” he said after the game at the MCG.

“We’ve proven throughout the season we can really match it with the top sides,”

“We knew we had the talent; it was just our attitude and our intent that we needed to fix up and we did that today.

“We’ve got a big game against Fremantle coming up down in Tassie so hopefully we can perform really well down there and get a good victory.”

On Sunday, the Hawks won contested ball 154 to 123, the clearances 52 to 41, and took the ball inside-50 10 more times than their opponents.

Birchall said the performance against the Demons came after the Sydney Swans served up a reality check last weekend. 

“We got smashed in the middle of the ground over the last couple of weeks and our focus today was to get our hands on the footy first and try and give our forwards every possible opportunity,” he said.

“Our endeavour today was a lot better than it had been.

“It was a better performance. Over the last couple of weeks, we haven’t been too crash hot and we needed to come out today and play some really hard, tough footy.

“I thought we did that for the majority of the game.”

He also said it was important for the players to answer club president Jeff Kennett’s public questioning of them and the coaches after last weekend’s 44-point loss at the SCG.

“We didn’t take too much notice but the boys responded really well,” he said.

“It was a massive game for both sides today. We knew it was going to be a red hot day and Melbourne was always going to come out firing.

“We just had to match their intensity and try and win the footy first.”

Birchall said Sunday’s conditions, which saw the players experience almost four seasons in one day, made for a challenging stage.

“You’ve got to adjust to it as quick as possible,” he said.

“There was a period there where it really came down at one stage and we made a couple of errors.

“You learn from that and we move on.”

He said improving their ball movement was the key area they would focus on over the next fortnight, as well as maintaining their intent and endeavour.