MELBOURNE was insufficiently rewarded for its tackling efforts against Hawthorn, Demons coach Dean Bailey said after his side's 19-point loss yesterday, and could yet raise the issue with the AFL's umpiring department.

While Bailey would not confirm that a critical last-quarter decision made against Aaron Davey was at the forefront of his mind, it was a glaring example of a ball carrier being favoured ahead of a tackler.

Hawthorn was 12 points up at the 19-minute mark of the tight final term when Davey slung Hawk debutant Jarryd Morton to ground in what appeared a textbook example of a player being caught holding the ball. But instead of winning a free kick 30 metres out and directly in front of Melbourne's goal — a conversion that would have reduced the margin to a straight kick — Davey was penalised for a push in the back. Three minutes later, the Hawks put the result beyond doubt when Mark Williams booted his third goal and gave his side an 18-point advantage.

"(If) a couple of things may have gone our way we might have even been a lot closer at the end," Bailey said.

When asked about the Davey-Morton incident, Bailey said: "I thought we tackled really well all day and didn't get rewarded … I've got no doubt.

"It's a bit soon after the game to give you an exact figure (on how many were un rewarded) …180s, 360s, 720 (degree spins) occurred and I thought they would have been rewarded, but obviously they weren't, so we need to look at our tackling."

Hawthorn made history yesterday, registering a ninth consecutive win, which is the club's best start to a season. But coach Alastair Clarkson all but brushed the milestone aside, although he did concede that after entering the match such strong favourites the Hawks had suffered from a "a bit of a lull".

"But the lull wasn't necessarily just because we weren't on top of our game, we were forced to not be on top of our game by the good play of the Melbourne footy club," he said.

Retired skipper David Neitz addressed Melbourne's players on the MCG before they ran through the banner and again after he walked through a guard of honour formed by both teams at the end of the match.

Meanwhile, Stuart Dew will have his troublesome hamstring scanned today after aggravating an injury he first sustained in round two. The former Port Adelaide forward has already taken four weeks off with the problem this year.

Melbourne's Russell Robertson was also forced from the ground with a badly corked thigh late in the third term, and Ben Holland, who kicked three goals after being brought in for his first senior game of the year, will have an injured shoulder assessed today.