AFTER the Western Bulldogs' round four win over Essendon, the main topic of conversation for Luke Beveridge was the fitness of Tim English and Ed Richards, and the same central theme surrounded the coach after his side's 40-point loss to Hawthorn on Saturday night.

English missed the Gather Round clash with a knee injury, while Richards was a surprise inclusion after also appearing to have hurt a knee against the Bombers.

HAWKS v BULLDOGS Full match coverage and stats

The red-haired midfielder was one of his side's best against the Hawks before going down in a last-quarter incident and being helped from the ground looking to be in considerable pain.

Replays showed Richards' right ankle give way, allowing some relief that it wasn't a recurrence or escalation of the knee injury sustained a week earlier, but to lose the gun ballwinner for any significant period of time could be costly for the Dogs.

Asked post-match if there was any indication of the severity of the damage done, Beveridge said it was too early to tell.

"We don't know the extent of it yet, we'll have a look at it through the imaging and then get back to you," the coach said.

"We just hope it's not too bad, but I can't give you anything until the medical staff give us something definitive."

English was an even bigger talking point throughout the evening as Hawthorn's ruckmen dominated ball-ups, winning hitouts 64-17 and hitouts to advantage a staggering 21-3.

"To give up six goals from our defensive 50 stoppages, it's unheard of for us, it's really poor," Beveridge lamented.

"It was significant, you'd have to say the most significant aspect of the scoring for either team … regardless of whether Tim's in the ruck or not – and this week he isn't – we shouldn't be giving up that kind of score."

English won't be in the ruck next week either when the Dogs face Geelong at GMHBA Stadium on Friday night, Beveridge saying there is still no definitive estimation of the ruckman's return.

"I think I said the other day it'll probably be mid next week (before a call is made on English's return), we're just waiting for it to settle and to give you that prediction. Not sure what it is yet."

The Bulldogs trailed all night against the Hawks, aided by some inaccuracy in front of goal, and Beveridge said the poor performance had been felt immediately and strongly by the playing group.

"The boys just talking in the aftermath in the debrief, they were pretty honest how they felt about it, the emotion in it ... when you lower your colours like that," he said.

"There’s a way to win, there's a way to be beaten, so we hurt twice tonight: we hurt because we lost the game and we hurt because we didn't play with the pride that we'd like to play with."

Pride and intent are things Hawthorn brought to Adelaide Oval in spades, knowing they were coming up against the ladder leader going into the round.

"I thought that we played with a level of intensity that’s required to beat really good sides," coach Sam Mitchell said after the game, also taking time to acknowledge other aspects that went his side's way.

"I think we got a little bit lucky with some of their scoring shots," he said. 

"Getting them the first week that English is out is probably the right time, but we still had to perform at a high level and I thought we did that pretty consistently."

Despite trailing throughout, the Bulldogs had a period of control late in the third quarter that saw them draw back to a 21-point margin that could have been significantly less if they had kicked straight.

The change of momentum gave Mitchell cause to fire up at the last change and bring some passion to his address, but in doing so he denied one of his co-captains the same opportunity.

"We were nowhere near our best and we looked like we were inviting them back into the contest, so at three-quarter time we addressed that – I addressed it reasonably strongly.

"I think Jai Newcombe was about to do the same thing and I didn't realise it at the time, and I think I cut his lunch," Mitchell said.

"He didn’t mention it to me until after the game and he was a bit disappointed. I'm not sure how many times he's given a big spray but he was ready so maybe I should have let him do it."