After looking in fantastic form at half time, Hawthorn has succumbed to a second half fadeout that saw Alastair Clarkson's men kick three goals to Essendon's 11.
In an onslaught Clarkson describes as "overwhelming", the Hawks were emphatically beaten in the middle as the Bombers dominated the centre clearance count.
"What was concerning for the whole game was the clearance rate," Clarkson said.
"We were behind at half-time in that space and having to bounce from the back-end to try and give ourselves a chance – and we actually did that OK in the first half, but in the second half it just became a little bit overwhelming."
Hawthorn rested captain Ben Stratton and super-veteran Shaun Burgoyne, on top of being without James Sicily, Jaeger O'Meara, Isaac Smith, James Frawley and Ricky Henderson.
"Our young guys just couldn't cope with the avalanche that came in the second half," Clarkson said - less of a slight on his young talent, but acknowledging the lack of experienced heads and leadership surrounding them.
Meanwhile, Bombers Coach John Worsfold was in a playful mood post-match, delighted with Daniher's spectacular return and how the side's game style flourished after half-time.
Daniher finished with 10 marks and three goals from his first match in 467 days.
"You just very quickly remember how good a player he is," Worsfold said.
"My comment at my press conference yesterday was that it's good for Joe and it's good for us, but it's good for footy – and I think everyone will be happy to see Joey back out there playing footy and enjoying himself.
"He's been committed to getting himself back to this point. He's had setbacks, it's been frustrating and there's no question he would have had doubts at some points about what's going wrong here.
"But all the way through he's been open to working with a team to get him back playing."
Hawthorn is also now awaiting scans to discover what caused forward Jonathon Patton to leave Thursday's fadeout loss to Essendon before quarter-time.
In just his second match back after returning from a hamstring injury, the 27-year-old former Giant pulled up short while preparing for a contest and left the field with a leg injury.
Clarkson said the club's doctors believed Patton had avoided an Achilles rupture, with a calf injury the more likely problem for Patton.
It is the third setback of his horror first season in brown and gold, after he spent the best part of the previous season-and-a-half recovering from a third knee reconstruction.
Patton also missed time this season with a blister on one of his feet that became infected, and looks set to finish the year playing only six matches.
"He's had a tough run, and that's quite often the case with guys who miss a lot of footy with one ailment, then they try and get themselves back and going again," Clarkson said
"He worked really hard to get himself fit and ready to play … then played quite well last week against Port Adelaide and gave us a target up forward.
"We're thinking, 'This is a good step in the right direction for him', but then nearly the first contest he went for tonight he hurt himself.
"So we'll see where that goes and he'll be disappointed, but he's confronted setbacks like this before and he'll just have to do it again."
