Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell alluded to that when the whips began cracking at Optus Stadium on Saturday night, his men weren't up to the challenge.
The Hawks travelled to Western Australia to take on Fremantle in a hostile environment, with the pair of clubs still vying for a spot inside the top eight, let alone making a genuine push towards a double chance.
"There's nine teams that have got a slight gap on the rest, and there's only eight that make the finals, and there's only four that get what everyone really wants, which is the top four spot," Mitchell said.
"We know we're going to have to play really consistent high-level footy for the rest of the season if we want to be where we want to get to.
"It's a bit of a punch to the stomach, if you like. But we've still got plenty of fight in us for the rest of this season.
"We're sixth on the ladder, so the ball is in our court, and we'll be back next week."
The see-sawing affair didn't see the margin blow out beyond 13 points, and although the visitors had the upper hand at the beginning of the final term, it was the Dockers who kicked four unanswered goals to claim the victory.
The Hawks' record against top-eight sides is 3-5, and they will face Adelaide (away), Collingwood and Brisbane (away) before the season's completion.
"When you're playing really big games, there's this feeling that everything matters so much. And I thought the game had that vibe about it," Mitchell said.
"For the majority of the game, the scoreline never got too far either way, and it was one of those games where every moment counted.
"We understand that at our best, we can compete with the best, but as soon as we drop away five per cent, we get a lesson, and we got one in the last quarter today."
Across the evening, the Hawks were largely on top on all statistical fronts, and looked like causing a huge upset as the competition turned towards September.
But a fourth quarter resurgence from Fremantle tipped the scales in their favour, and ultimately, the home ground advantage, on top of the immense pressure (season-high 103 tackles) was too much to handle.
"When you play Freo in Perth, you know that their record here is pretty good, and they play well," Mitchell said.
"So, we knew we were going to have to play a full four quarters to beat them. We only played three.
"We thought we competed pretty well for the majority of the game, and just couldn't quite get a big enough lead to get as far in front as probably needed to.
"Then obviously, we didn't handle the last quarter very well at all, and weren't able to get it into our front half and didn't handle their pressure well enough.
"It's a pretty big cauldron over here, and it was too much for us."
Hawthorn will move on pretty quickly as they will seek to avenge the poor loss to Port Adelaide earlier in the year, hosting the South Australian club at UTAS Stadium.
