WHILE Adelaide coach Neil Craig labelled Hawthorn as an "outstanding" team that will be "around the mark" in the premiership race, his Hawthorn counterpart Alistair Clarkson stuck to his script that the Hawks still have some distance to travel in their journey towards a 10th premiership.

After Hawthorn defeated the usually unbreakable Crows by 44 points yesterday, Craig praised Hawthorn, which had handed his now developing team "a great lesson".

"They're an outstanding team," the Adelaide coach said. "We weren't really able to really test them today. Are they a premiership threat? They will be up and around the mark, you would think, if they continue to play and improve the way theyhave."

Craig was impressed by Hawthorn's game style and ability to pressure the Crows into indirect play, by defending the corridor. In an abrupt reversal of the standing of these clubs, he saw Adelaide — hitherto a seasoned unit — as the team that had been educated.

"It was a tough learning experience, but a good learning experience. They are very good at it. What we take from it is a great lesson for our playing group that that level exists."

Clarkson called Hawthorn's performance "a super team effort" in which 20 players had lifted for the 100th games of popular duo Campbell Brown and Chance Bateman, with the latter best afield yesterday.

But Clarkson maintained his line that the Hawks were merely heading in the right direction and had not arrived. "We've got a long way to go as a footy club, but we've been really pleased with our progress, so far this season. We've still two or three of our players that aren't in the side like Croad, Mitchell, Lewis, those types of guys who are such an important part of the fabric of our club, not just our side. It will be a real benefit for us when they get back into the side over the next three or four weeks."

Skipper Mitchell was a late withdrawal with what was described as a calf injury yesterday.

Clarkson said the Hawks were beginning to reap some results from tough decisions a few years ago — an apparent reference to the club's willingness to trade seasoned players.

"We're just starting to see some fruits of our labour. We knew we were making some development as a footy club two years ago, two-and-a-half years ago, when we made some real tough decisions … now we're starting to get some benefit from some of those hard decisions."

Hawthorn's past two performances, in which it defeated bogey team North Melbourne and crushed Adelaide, were viewed with Clarkson's usual cautious optimism. "You only need to look back at the win-loss ratio of Hawthorn v Kangaroos and Hawthorn v Adelaide Crows over the last three to four years and we're inferior in terms of getting the win-loss ratio. We've got enormous regard for the way they go about it. We're convinced, as a footy club, that we're heading in the right direction."