Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell has lamented the club's poor clearance work against the reigning premiers, which is quickly becoming an issue.
For the second straight week, Mitchell has referenced his side's inability to win the ball at stoppage, going down to Brisbane 41-24, but more significantly, 14-7 in the centre bounce.
The lopsided clearance battle ultimately played a huge part in the final result, with the Lions running out winners by 33 points.
In Round 10, Gold Coast got hold of the Hawks' midfield, winning that battle convincingly by 15, while the absence of Will Day is seemingly playing a consequential part.
"Centre bounce in particular, that's two weeks in a row we've been really torched in there,” Mitchell said following the loss to the Lions.
"We've been pretty good in that area for the last 18 months. So centre bounce is an area where we know we can be potent ourselves if we can win the ball.
"We had some significant issues around that area for now two weeks, so there's a bit of work to do around centre bounce."
The Hawthorn coach also brought attention to his side's intent to lay effective tackles, whilst also hunting the opposition.
Mitchell's men laid a measly 36 tackles, to 59, noting that a fair chunk of the 23 players couldn't catch a Lions jumper.
"I think we had nine players who didn't lay a tackle today," Mitchell said.
"I mean, the way they (Brisbane) play is they're very good at taking pressure off themselves. That's a big strength of theirs.
"So, not being able to get enough pressure onto them. We sort of chatted about that before the game, and we scouted it, and we suspected that they would play that way. We weren't able to get enough pressure on them at key moments in the game."
Hawthorn will attempt to snap a two-game losing streak when they take on competition leaders Collingwood at the MCG on Friday night.
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