CARLTON coach Josh Fraser has conceded the Blues still have plenty of work to do after crashing back down to earth with a 64-point loss to Hawthorn.

The Blues won seven straight games under Josh Fraser, but were outclassed by a strong Hawthorn outfit in wet and wild conditions.

BLUES v HAWKS Full match coverage and stats

“In my coaching journey, I’m not immune to losing… we’ve had to learn how to handle winning over the last seven weeks and I think it’s really important that we don’t catastrophise a result but we get back to work,” Fraser said post-match.

“That’s been our process over the past seven games; we certainly haven’t been getting carried away with results; it’s been very process-oriented, and off the back of tonight it will be the same. 

“We know where we’re at; we know we’ve got more work in front of us and we’re committed to that work.”

Fraser said he thought the Hawks adapted to the conditions better than the Blues did and were dominant around the contest. 

“I thought they adapted to the conditions better than we did early. We didn’t quite handle that; we haven’t faced those conditions in a long time, so there’s some learning in that for us,” he said.

“I thought their contest method for the most part of the night was quite strong; I didn’t feel like it was an effort thing with us. 

“I thought we lacked a little bit of method at times, but their contest, inside to out, exposed us too often.

“They looked more robust around contest when those conditions set in early… their situational awareness is in front of where ours is. 

“They certainly looked like a team who had played in conditions like that before and were able to adjust and adapt a lot quicker than we did.”

The loss is a blow to Carlton’s wildcard hopes, but Fraser said the club would remain process-driven.

“We don’t reference where we sit on the ladder; we reference where we’re at and where we need to get better… we’ve got a lot of growth and learning and development to do. Yes, (the wildcard) gives you a carrot if you want to look at it that way, but it’s not something we’re driving hard internally.”

Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell was buoyed by his side’s strong response after last week’s poor performance against Melbourne.

“It was going to be that real arm wrestle early; it was going to be difficult to get too far ahead or behind, and just consistency of effort was going to be what mattered,” Mitchell said post-match.

“Nothing lasts forever; last week I didn’t think would last forever, and I don’t think this week will either. I think every team, through this period of the season, is striving for consistency near their best performance. 

“There was a five-minute period where I thought we lacked a bit of vibrancy in the way we wanted to play, but probably only five minutes, and we arrested that momentum quickly, which was a big step forward from last week.

“The game looked the way we wanted it to for the majority of the game… I thought we played some pretty good footy tonight.

“I wouldn’t imagine they lost too many admirers after that; they were difficult to play and coach against.”

The Blues lost veteran midfielder George Hewett to a back injury early in the match, and Fraser admitted “it didn’t look great” for the tough nut.

“Nothing specific at the moment, other than it didn’t look great for George. We’ll have to wait to get some more feedback on his injury early in the week.”