HAWTHORN'S 66-point win over Melbourne at the MCG on Friday night didn't come in the prettiest fashion, but coach Alastair Clarkson gladly took it.

The Hawks booted 15.25 in a wasteful display in front of goal, but Clarkson preferred to focus on his team's dominance of the contested possession and clearance count.

Against a Melbourne team that, although winless, has competed hard in the clinches all season, Hawthorn won both measures easily.

The Hawks took out contested possession 157-105 and clearances 40-22, the second time they'd won either statistic this year.

"We were really pleased with a lot of areas of our game," Clarkson said post-match.

"We've been OK at contested ball; we haven't been smashed.

"But nor have we been able to smash an opposition.

"That has been the one area of their game where Melbourne have been pretty strong.

"So we needed to make sure that we could at least break even in tonight's game in that area, and we ended up being 40 or 50 in front in terms of contested ball, so that was really pleasing."

Clarkson was disappointed his forwards hadn't made better use of their opportunities, but went part of the way to forgiving them.

"We tended to go a little bit too wide inside our 50, but having said that we missed some sodas from dead in front," he said.

"What can you do? It's frustrating, but the players aren't trying to miss them.

"A big part of the game is the running capacity of these players now, and so many of them are so fatigued once they get an opportunity to go back and have their shot on goal, and that's being compounded even further by umpires who only give them 30 seconds to take their shot.

"So a lot of things have changed over the journey in terms of players, and that's a key reason why conversion rate's probably one thing in the game that hasn't improved a lot over the journey."

The 2008 premiership coach credited his defence with a "super effort" in restricting Melbourne to just six goals.

"We're just pretty pleased to get the win," he said.