ALASTAIR Clarkson is refusing to concede Hawthorn's golden era is over, instead declaring the club still has a list that can deliver the Hawks’ next premiership.

Hawthorn's loss to Adelaide at the MCG on Saturday has Clarkson's side sitting 0-2, its worst start to a season since 2009.

After a fast start in the opening term, the Hawks dropped away dramatically in the second half.

Talking points: Hawks v Crows

The defeat at the hands of the Crows was compounded by a facial injury to four-time premiership defender Grant Birchall, who was taken to hospital immediately after the game.

Hawthorn is fielding a vastly different side in 2017 with the departures of Sam Mitchell, Jordan Lewis and Bradley Hill.

Recruits Jaeger O'Meara and Tom Mitchell have stepped in to fill the void, while the Hawks are also trying to give senior exposure to several fresh young faces in Teia Miles, Ryan Burton and Kade Stewart.

While there are question marks over whether the talent is there in the younger players, there is a larger cloud of doubt hovering over some of Hawthorn's veterans, who were dubbed too old and slow in the round one loss to Essendon.

Despite all of this, the coach remains confident he has a premiership list at his disposal.

"All we look for as coaches is the next opportunity for us to win a premiership," Clarkson told reporters after the 24-point loss to Adelaide.

WATCH Alastair Clarkson's full media conference

"We believe we have a group of players that can help us deliver that despite what everyone else thinks about our more senior guys being past their best and all that sort of stuff.

"We have some pretty formidable players. We have two blokes that have come in from other clubs that are midfielders for us, and as we saw today they can win the footy.

"We have a young fellow in Burton and some other young guys that haven't been given the same opportunities as perhaps they would have had at other clubs because of our good performances over the last three or four years.

"We're zero-and-two so it's easy to point the finger, but they were pointing the finger at GWS the other week too. They play a good side in Adelaide, get beaten, and it's like they're wondering whether Leon Cameron is the right guy because he's driving this Ferrari.

"With anything in this game, it's not always that great, and it's not always that bad either, it's somewhere in between. We need to play better but we feel like there's plenty of upside to our footy club."

Following the loss to Adelaide, Clarkson said he was disappointed with the number of turnovers, with the Hawks recording 46 ‘handball clangers’.

There was also a number of injury concerns, with Birchall's the most serious.

The rebounding defender received a knock to his face early in the game, and while he played out the remainder of the match he was sent to hospital for scans after the final siren sounded.

"He's been assessed for a knock to either his cheekbone or jaw," Clarkson said.

"That happened in the first two minutes of the game so he was pretty brave to continue on when he's got a facial injury. The severity of it, we'll just have to wait and see.

“Hopefully it's not too bad and it's minor, but if it is [worse] he could miss some time."

Midfielders Isaac Smith (hip) and Liam Shiels (leg) both sustained corkies in the second half and were restricted in their movement and ability to impact the contest.