The back-and-forth UTAS Stadium contest ended with the Kangaroos winning 13.9 (87) to the Hawks' 12.8 (80).

After the loss, Hawks coach Alastair Clarkson noted his squad's lack of aggression in the second half as a key for their downfall.

"We need to get tougher, harder and stronger around the ball," he said.

"Despite us not being dominant in the first part of the game, at least we were able to be more competitive.

"Sometimes it's not just about the number itself it's about the quality of the clearance and how far that ball goes, and they were able to get a lot of ground from their clearances."

The four-time flag-winning coach is no stranger to building a successful team, and said the new-look team needed time to adjust to AFL calibre competition.

"There's some positives things out of our play, the disappointing thing is that we lost a game of footy that we put ourselves in a position to win," Clarkson said.

"We got ourselves four goals up or more and it's disappointing to let the game slip in that time.

"The good sides are able to produce that sort of footy for four quarters, and we've just just been able to do it in one or two quarters which is just not enough to win a game of footy."

Hawks president Jeff Kennett added his two cents earlier that day during his address at the President's Club. The always charismatic Hawks head honcho was not aloof to the situations both his club and the Roos faced.

"We could be at the top of the ladder, if in fact they turn the ladder around," Kennett joked.

"But right now we're on the other end of the ladder, and there'll come a stage later this year when there's only one way for us both to go and that's up."

Kennett echoed his coach's sentiments when it came to his side's rebuild, noting his team's five recent draft picks as the heralds of future winning seasons.

"When we concluded the end of last year, knowing where we were as a club, we realised we had to start preparing for another decade of being competitive.

"The only way to do that was to go back to the draft ... this year, we're making sure that they get as many games as possible under their belts.

"Because as you know, when you're selected for AFL performance, regardless of where you come from it's a huge lift."

In his first win as coach, David Noble said it wasn't a case of getting the monkey off his back, with plenty to prove for the young Roos side.

"I can understand the thought around that, but we felt that we've been chasing wins in certain areas of our game that hasn't necessarily correlated to the scoreboard which has been disappointing and frustrating," he said.

"Even the things we felt in the first quarter while we were behind - we felt that we hurt ourselves in a number of areas."

One thing Noble was pleased with was his team's stoppage work throughout the game, as well as the change ups in the forward line that had his team come back from 32 points down.

"We felt we were in and around the contest pretty well ... but the main thing was the structure of stoppages and tinkering a little with the forward end," he said.