Watch Alastair Clarkson and Luke Hodge's press conference above.

HAWTHORN coach Alastair Clarkson has lamented his team's poor start and its inability to hold up play in the dying stages of its heartbreaking two-point loss to Geelong on Friday night.

The Hawks came from 51 points down midway through the second quarter to hit the front during time-on in the last, but were sunk by a Tom Hawkins bomb after the final siren.

"We were pleased with the resilience of our group that we fought back and got ourselves back in the contest, and from that position we probably should have won the game," Clarkson said.

"We just lacked a bit of composure in the last part of the game.

"We had a couple of opportunities where we could have held the ball up and just taken some time off the clock, and we failed to do that.

"So we live and learn the hard way, unfortunately."

Clarkson said he was unsurprised by Geelong's hot start, which was consistent with its form in recent weeks.

The Cats piled on nine goals to two in the first quarter, dominating every facet of the game.

"They just won the hunt, tackled better than us, forced us into error, and we couldn't get the ball back off them," Clarkson said.

"Once we started to compete in that part of the ground, it became a game.

"When we did [compete], we showed that we're a good side.

"But you give a team like Geelong seven goals' head start, it's going to be damn hard to catch them up.

"But we did, and I suppose it's disappointing we just couldn't ice it right at the end."

The loss made it nine straight for Hawthorn against the Cats, but both Clarkson and skipper Luke Hodge felt the result showed promising signs for their team's chances come September.

Asked if he and his teammates had a mental obstacle when it came to beating the Cats, Hodge dismissed the concern.

"Not really, considering we pulled back a 51-point margin and hit the front," he said.

"We've got as much belief as anyone that when we play like we did in the last three quarters, we can beat teams like Geelong and Collingwood."