HAWTHORN coach Alastair Clarkson refused to get too disappointed with his side’s defeat to Adelaide at AAMI Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

The Hawks turned in a below par first half performance, and despite a better showing in the second term, fell short by 27 points to slip to five and five for the season.

Clarkson felt his side deserved to lose and even though he blamed their poor skills, he credited Adelaide for not allowing Hawthorn to get into the game.

“They (Adelaide) were outstanding in the first half and full credit to them. We couldn’t stop their run and carry and we probably didn’t help ourselves with the way we entered our inside 50,” he said after the game.

“We butchered a lot of the footy going across the arc and sometimes our inside-50 entries were too shallow and they just had a wave of players running straight through the middle of the ground.

Hawthorn ate into the Crows’ lead in a promising third quarter that was highlighted by a better defensive effort and more fluent ball movement.

“We corrected a few things at half time and we moved the ball inside 50 a bit better in the second half,” Clarkson said. “But to give an eight goal head start to a side on their home ground was too much to pull back from there.

“We were pleased with our effort because it could have been a 10 goal blowout. We managed to pull back the margin a bit in the second half and show a bit of pride and respect in the jumper and that’s really important for our group.”

Hawthorn’s inconsistency has been its plight this season. But the coach was not optimistic about rectifying his team’s up and down form while so many premiership players were still unavailable through injury.

The Hawks have blooded five youngsters since the start of the season and Clarkson is adamant investment in the youth policy will bode well for the future.

“We haven’t got our best cattle out on the park and until we do, we will have a little bit of inconsistency in our performance.

“We continue to give our young guys a go and we’ve debuted our fifth player for the season this year in young Shiels who I thought really acquitted himself quite well in the circumstances.

“I don’t know how many of the reigning premiers have debuted five players by round 10 in the next season. We’re giving young players an opportunity for experience and exposure.”

Clarkson believed a change in tactic to put Jarryd Roughead in the ruck for parts of the game didn’t pay dividends, but he was confident of success against other teams.

“We went in with that strategy this week because we know Adelaide is a very strong running side and we’ve been hamstrung by so many injuries this year.

“We thought rather than bringing in another tall, we would bring in another runner, but we’ll have to wait and see over the coming rounds what our best structure is.”