The Dogs had more of the ball than their opponents, but let themselves down with 26 clangers to Hawthorn’s 15.
“Our use of the ball was just [average],” Lake said.
“I think we won most of our key indicators, they probably just tackled a lot harder and made their tackles stick and I guess their entries inside 50 were a bit more efficient.
“We just butchered the ball going inside 50.”
Lake cited the Bulldogs’ chronic inefficiency when moving the ball up the field as the chief reason for his side’s narrow defeat.
“Definitely the skill level, it was just deplorable going through the centre, trying to hit targets in the forward line was terrible. We pride ourselves on our decision making, but that just killed us tonight,” he said.
“We have to look at our decision making at training and getting our kicking numbers right. It was just guys making stupid decisions.”
Lake’s performance against the in-form Lance Franklin was a rare highlight for the Dogs. Lake held the Hawthorn spearhead to 17 possessions and three goals while collecting 28 touches and 18 marks of his own.
“I’m just conscious of how [Franklin] likes to get the ball behind and get the space behind him and once he does you can’t keep up with him. I pride myself on my body work and contested marks, which was a good area of mine today,” he said.
“Still when you don’t have pressure up the midfield and when they were able to hit the targets, as defenders there is not much you can do.”
