Hawthorn grab unlikely win over Western Bulldogs in Launceston

The inside midfielder amassed 40 disposals, 12 tackles, 10 score involvements and went at 85 per cent efficiency.

"Jai is a good example of what we're built from. A lot of our players are mid-season draft picks and that level of desire and commitment that he brings, is indicative of what the whole group brings," Mitchell said.

It was not such a positive occasion for Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge, whose side's path to finals has become trickier.

"I think the simple aspect of the game was they broke too many of our tackles, those disputed ball situations they just wanted it a hell of a lot more than us," he said.

"We had a really stale part of the game after half-time where we couldn't create any momentum, couldn't get the ball moving, couldn't get the ball.

"We could have been so much better in certain areas and then you think also Hawthorn are improving and we knew that, we knew it was going to be a really difficult task and obviously we fell short."

It was a tough start for the Hawks with in-form forward Chad Wingard unable to put weight on ankle after he accelerated.

The former Port Adelaide player went into the rooms and then hospital shortly after.

Mitchell provided an update on his injury.

"[It's a] lower-leg injury, obviously looked pretty significant at the time and got carried off," he said

"He's been in such great form, so it's really sad for him. We don't know the extent of it at this stage and it's a challenging one for all the boys because everyone's really happy about the win and then obviously, we're all feeling for Chad.

"We'll wait and see what the medical update is a couple of days in."

It was a double-blow for the hosts as Rory Lobb received an off-ball free-kick 20 metres out at the same time which he duly converted.

On top in the middle early, the Dogs were winning the territory battle and when Ugle-Hagan kicked a classy goal following a dummy sell.

Connor McDonald's bad kick straight to Adam Treloar deep in defence summed up a terrible chain of errors from the Hawks back-line as they found themselves three goals down.

The Launceston fans finally got something to celebrate though after Will Day produced a sublime piece of stoppage play, breaking a tackle before displaying composure for his side's first of the day.

Ugle-Hagan's bright start continued as his second major gave the Dogs a 20-point lead at the first break.

Tagged by Finn Maginness, Tom Liberatore only had two touches in the first term, but his day got worse when an accidental knee to the head appeared to concuss him, with blood streaming from his head, he was subbed shortly after.

"He'll go into concussion protocols, we'll give you an update during the week, but he seems okay and as always we'll take precautions with him and take a conservative approach," Beveridge said.

Hawthorn were far improved in the second but were inaccurate until Dylan Moore managed to give the hosts reward for effort as he snapped truly from the top of the goal-square.

A brain-fade from James Sicily gave the Dogs their fifth major for the match, after he played on from a kick-in with Rhylee West right behind him.

Hawthorn responded quickly though thanks to Jai Newcombe, who spun beautifully out of a tackle before kicking a bomb from 55m out.

From there, they continued to control the flow of the match and were beginning to win the clearance and contested possession count.

Lobb's second major late in the term retained a double-digit margin for the visitors shortly before half-time, but Karl Amon's blistering second term was capped off with an answering goal.

It was a cagey start to the second half, with the Dogs defence holding up well against Hawks' inside-50s.

It took Newcombe's moment of strength against Weightman to find a breakthrough as it set up an attack which resulted in a strong contested mark for Jacob Koschitzke, much to the delight of the crowd.

The forward kicked well around his body from a sharp angle for the first goal of the half.

Luke Breust followed suit by converting a snap from the behind line after he received a free-kick for a trip.

The goal, which was a result of great play from Day, gave the hosts the lead for the first time in the match.

With the Hawks still going at 81 per cent efficiency for the match late in the third quarter, their control over uncontested ball (191-131) was damaging for the Bulldogs as they limped to just three points for the term.

The last quarter started with a bang for the hosts as the imperious Newcombe set up fellow milestone-man James Worpel for a goal from 50m out.

An untimely slip from Marcus Bontempelli after a poor Ed Richards kick gave Mitch Lewis a golden chance to kick his first, and he did not disappoint the home fans.

Denver Grainger-Barras made it three in a row for Hawthorn to start the last, slotting it home following a strong contested mark.

Just as it looked that the Hawks would take control of the match, Bulldogs sub Oscar Baker produced the spark the visitors needed, nailing his kick from deep in the pocket as they closed the margin back to 15 points.

Beveridge's side built from there as consecutive forward-50 entries resulted in Tim English taking a diving mark. The ruck's kick never looked like missing as the Dogs continued to close.

With Marcus Bontempelli winning three centre-clearances in succession it seemed the Dogs could snatch it back, but they were not helped by consecutive set-shot misses from Lobb.

Eventually they did get a major after some fast ball-movement allowed them to take the ball from one end to the other, resulting in Bailey Williams' easy dribble from inside the goal square to make it just two points.

They would not score again though as the Hawks proved giant killers once again to win by three points.

Mitchell reflected on how his side closing out the match, as they continue to learn from close losses earlier in the season.

"We've done a fair bit of work on it just in the last couple of weeks, we certainly are nowhere near finished products when it comes to close games," he said.

"We weren't well-planned enough against Richmond a few weeks ago and I think off the back of that we just got a couple of things in place and we've been able to utilise them a couple of times over the last month.

"It felt like a long way out to be chipping it around, there was too long left for it really, but [the Dogs] had all the momentum and they'd kicked a couple in a row, we knew we needed to try and hold off momentum and we were able to do it for just long enough."

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: