Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson has lamented his side's lack of polish in a tight 13-point AFL loss to Essendon.
But the veteran mentor insists the signs are positive for the second-last club.
The Hawks had more inside 50s (50-47) and scoring shots (23-21) in the 13.8 (82) to 10.13 (73) loss in front of a healthy 14,834 crowd at Launceston's University of Tasmania Stadium on Sunday.
"It was a good contest from go to woah. We stopped Essendon from being able to play they way can usually play," Clarkson said.
"(But) at the end of the day we lacked a little bit of polish and being able to finish some of our good work."
The two sides exchanged the lead throughout, with Hawthorn getting within a goal with a little more than two-and-a-half minutes to go.
After an upset win over Sydney last week, they arguably had the running in the first two quarters but couldn't convert their field position into enough points.
"Some of it comes because of pressure. Some of the set-shot misses we had in the early parts of the game were misses that we expect our guys at this level to be able to convert," Clarkson said.
"We'll work on that but the most pleasing part for us was that we gave ourselves the opportunity to score.
"I think Essendon would walk away from this game perhaps a little bit relieved they won the game.
"We're pleased with our efforts. We know that if we hang in there for a bit longer and fix up some of the things forward of the ball, we'll be okay."
Essendon forward Jake Stringer tormented the Hawks and finished with four goals including two either side of halftime to give his side momentum.
Luke Bruest and Jacob Koschitzke kicked three each for Hawthorn, who meet GWS next weekend.
