IT WASN'T coach Alastair Clarkson or his players who anointed Hawthorn as the pre-season favourites for the premiership.

Footy punters and the footy media can wear that one.

But it can now be said that there is official concern at Hawthorn that the side is 5-4 and seemingly miles behind the pacesetters of the competition.

"It's a tough competition but we'd like to be better placed than 5-4," Clarkson said after the 62-point hammering from Richmond at the MCG on Saturday that, pretty much, nobody saw coming.

"At the end of the day, that's what your side is measured on. We have expectations to be a side that is contesting late in the season, but at 5-4, rightly so, we are in the middle of the pack.

"We weren't going into the season with the expectation that we would be in the middle of the pack and not challenging. We thought we would be higher up the ladder and right at the moment we have a bit of work to do."

Defender Shaun Burgoyne agreed with the coach. "We mark ourselves pretty highly internally and at the moment we are not living up to those expectations. Today was a step backwards and we have to learn from it and move forwards."

Where to start? After three weeks of good work at clearances and around the centre, the Hawks were comprehensively beaten in that department.

Clarkson forecast as much the day before the game, saying then that while he hated to repeat himself week after week, the team that controlled the midfield would win the match.

The Tigers, with the 260-203 edge in contested ball, won that statistic easily and the coach was proven correct.

The full-strength backline battled gamely, but soon caved in against the quality and quantity of ball that was being pumped into the Richmond forward line.

It hasn't been a stellar year for key forwards so far in 2012, meaning the Hawks will hear plenty - internally and externally - about the six goals that Jack Riewoldt booted for the Tigers.

Of more disappointment was that the Hawks appeared to wave the white flag as Richmond booted two goals inside the final minute of the third term to extend the lead to five goals at the last change and then eight more from there to turn the match into a rout.

Clarkson said he would like to have seen a bit more "steel" as the margin blew out. "Any side would in that situation," he admitted.

And so would the supporters. Hawthorn officials admitted in the rooms afterwards that they hadn't seen Hawk fans turn on the players with such venom as they left the ground after the siren.

"It might not be the worst thing to happen to the players," one official noted.

Lance Franklin will doubtless want to shy away from the papers this week. His 1.3 return (the goal came late in the final quarter) will be hotly debated, with the coach admitting that his superstar is "lacking a bit of polish."

Franklin's form slump is perplexing to the Hawks, given how well he continues to train and to prepare and even how well he slots them through during the pre-game warm-ups. Thought might be given this week as to whether there is a place for Jack Gunston in the forward line next week against North Melbourne at Aurora Stadium.

The former Crow kicked seven goals for Box Hill last week, but the VFL bye prevented him from having another run this weekend, much to the chagrin of the Hawthorn coaching panel.

Xavier Ellis is another who the Hawks would like to inject into the side if it is clear that he is match fit and they can only hope and prey that Luke Hodge will return in round 14 against Carlton as forecast.

But the initial focus will be on the team that fell short of expectations by a considerable degree.

"We had 22 blokes out there today that we thought could get us the win against Richmond. We have players we could consider coming back onto the side but we just didn't have enough effort of consistency and endeavor across the game," he said.

You can follow AFL Media senior writer Ashley Browne on Twitter @afl_hashbrowne