HAWTHORN players held a meeting on Monday morning where they reminded each other to stay positive in the face of outside criticism.

The Hawks lost to the Sydney Swans by 37 points on Sunday despite leading by 20 points at half-time, leaving them with only two wins from five matches.

Vice-captain Jordan Lewis, who spoke at the player-only meeting called by the club's leadership group, said it was important the Hawks kept their heads up.

"Our record looks like we haven't played that well, but we've been in every game we've played this season," Lewis said on Monday afternoon.

"We had a meeting this morning and we said we've played one bad half for the season.

"I spoke and said it's important that we keep the morale up.

"The media are going to smash us, and so they should, but we've played some good football."

Lewis said Hawthorn's difficult early-season fixture was no excuse for Sunday's second-half lapse, blaming a lack of effort.

"We don't come up with any excuses, other than intensity on the field," he said.

"We've been so good during the first [four-and-a-half] games, and for whatever reason it just didn't come in the second half.

"We've got to give credit to Sydney; they were great.

"They really stepped it up in the second half, and for some reason we just failed to go with them."

Lewis said the Hawks still had high expectations of themselves after reaching a preliminary final last year, but admitted the team wasn't up to the standard of the League's top teams on current form.

"There probably is a gap between us and the more in-form sides at this stage of the year … but hopefully we can bridge that gap before finals time," he said.

More to come