AFTER one of the season's most difficult games to watch, neither winning coach Alastair Clarkson nor the vanquished Ross Lyon was conceding the game had been an ugly spectacle.

With only four goals scored to half-time, seven to the last break and turnovers galore, the only thing that saved the match from almost total ignominy was a nine-goal final term.

At half-time, the teams left the MCG to booing from the 36,000 fans, but it was unclear whether it was directed at the players or, as is more typical, the umpires.

"It's an entertainment business, so we try to entertain. But the first responsibility's to win. I'd have to look at the stats. I think the style of footy can induce that sort of footy," Lyon said.

Clarkson conceded it was a "tough day", but mainly because his side had to combat the slow-moving contest.

"It's a tough day. As tough for the players as it is for the coaches because we're not used to playing that slow-moving style of footy," he said. "But it was a terrific contest, it was an absorbing duel. And so it's great for us as a footy club to go through those types of experiences because finals footy more often than not … is low-scoring footy."

Lyon felt his side was well in the contest for three quarters but could not remain in touch when it counted. "To three-quarter-time, I didn't think there was much difference in the game. I thought we could win at three-quarter-time," he said. "Obviously I was disappointed with the silly turnover goal … but to Hawthorn's credit, I thought they took control of the centre in the last quarter and took the opportunities early and that's where obviously you need to open yourself up a little bit more to try and win the game. So therefore, it became a more one-on-one game. I'd love to have four people in my forward line and kick it in long all day but sometimes you just can't do that."

Clarkson, in particular, was pleased with the performance of Jarryd Roughead, who kicked three goals and was instrumental in setting up the win. Roughead was dropped last week when the side went to Subiaco in preference to a running player but Clarkson said the issue was never his ability. "In a game when there was only 15 or 16 goals scored for the game, Roughy did some tremendous things. His was a real influential game in the context of the outcome. To win a game by four or five goals and Roughy's kicked three, that's a pretty good return for him," he said.

The Hawks have three tough matches in coming weeks, with West Coast, Port Adelaide and Sydney, and Clarkson believes his side can match it with them. "We've got a lot of tough games coming up and to the middle of last year, we weren't well prepared to cope with some of those games," he said. "So we're much better placed.

"The Box Hill side today had (Richie) Vandenberg and (Danny) Jacobs playing in the side and they had a victory, they beat the top team. You couldn't say that's as pleasing as tonight's victory but that gave us a lot of heart that some of those kids that had been playing down at Box Hill and been really struggling because we had a pretty depleted list earlier in the year because of injury. We're starting to get our list together a bit stronger now."