THE POURING rain in Saturday's game between Hawthorn and Richmond suited Jordan Lewis to a tee, and while the rugged onballer excelled in the conditions it was the Hawks' ability to adapt as a team that secured the premiership points.

Hawthorn hit the Tigers early and hit them hard with a no-frills approach intent on moving the ball forward before all else. It's not how most games are played these days, but it was just what the conditions required.   

"You've got to tweak your game when it's wet like that, you'd be stupid if you just tried to chip the ball around in those conditions," Lewis said after the 63-point win.

"You don't have to be Einstein to work out that you just have to take ground when it's wet and try to get it into the forward line and give your forwards some opportunities.

"We chipped it around in parts of the game and it just gets turned over and goes down for a score. You've really just got to take ground."

Despite allowances for the prevailing conditions, Lewis, who finished the game with 32 possessions, said Hawthorn's plan of attack had been based around a constant key performance indicator.

"Before the game we spoke about how Richmond are a really good one-on-one side and a really good contested side, so we went in with the mentality that we needed to win the contested ball," he said.

"Whether it's dry or whether it's wet that's one thing that you can measure your game on.

"We may have had some lapses in the second half, but I think overall we won that part of the game which keeps the game played in our half."

Lewis is three games into his new role as vice-captain to Luke Hodge, along with Jarryd Roughead, and he feels like it's been a relatively smooth transition.

"When I came to the club I was a bit out there and voiced my opinion from the get go and I think that's just sort of carried on," he said.

"I think myself and Roughie have taken on the role on with both hands and hopefully we can teach the young guys a few things on the way."