HAWTHORN coach Alastair Clarkson believes his side did not deserve to make this year's final eight.

But he also thinks Essendon, the team that beat the Hawks at the MCG on Saturday to clinch the final spot in the eight, is not deserving of September either.

"On our win-loss ratio, we didn't deserve to get there and I dare say Essendon hardly do either," he said.

"To win 10 and a half games and qualify for finals – we didn't deserve to be there and we need to play a hell of a lot better than that if we're going to get ourselves into finals footy on a regular basis."

Hawthorn has endured a miserable season with player availability – no other club in the competition has suffered as many injuries – and Clarkson said the lack of personnel had made it a challenging year.

"It was symbolic of today to lose Max [Bailey] at the five-minute mark [of the first quarter with a knee injury] and then 'Sewelly' (Brad Sewell) just after half time," he said.

"We've been fortunate we've been able to win a flag along this journey and we've had a little bit of a hiccup as a footy club now, but we'll nurse our sore spots and get ourselves right."

Although he did not reveal the names, Clarkson conceded another four or five players were playing with injuries and would need post-season surgery.

"It was pretty lion-hearted in their efforts to just hang in there and see out the season," he said.

"It was probably a little bit fortunate in a sense that the Bombers won, because I'm not too certain we would have been able to field a side next week – we've got some sore and sorry players."

Clarkson said starting pre-season earlier this year would benefit the Hawks.
 
"We would have loved to have been playing next week, but in a sense, it's a relief that some of those guys that are injured can put their season behind them and get themselves right."

Clarkson declined to tip a flag favourite.

"I never go down that line," he said.

Meanwhile, Clarkson would not comment on Essendon skipper Matthew Lloyd's bump on midfielder Sewell.

"You know I can't talk about that," he said when asked about the incident.