Hawthorn Coach Sam Mitchell says his side continues to be a work in progress following its 27-point loss to Essendon on Saturday night. 

Despite leading at every break, the Hawks were unable to outlast the Bombers at Marvel Stadium in their first meeting this season.

Mitchell said his side’s consistency of effort was lacking throughout the match. 

“Our consistency across a four-quarter performance is the thing that we need (to work on),” Mitchell said. 

“We got outplayed when the game was right on the line. At the end of the day it just wasn’t to the standard we expect. 

“We just didn’t play at the level that is required to play consistent AFL football.”

The Hawks again got off to a strong start, and lead by as much as 25 points at one stage, but were unable to break the game open. 

“Collectively we started the game quite well, we got into our front half and we’re able to get scoring shots,” Mitchell said. 

“We could never really put them away, we held on to a bit of a lead for a lot of the day, but we just couldn’t quite hit far enough in front at any stage.

“We lost control of the game at different stages before that, but we were able to get it back.

“There were some worrying signs throughout that second part of the game.”

Hear more of what Mitchell had to say following last night’s match.