The Hawks were nothing less than lethargic in their loss to Port Adelaide. It is not the only time this season that they've been unable to produce their full throttle intensity.

Their premium football remains the competition's best but, relative to 2013 and 2014, we cannot be as confident that they will bring it on a given weekend. Despite a massive percentage that reflects their unmatched ability to dismember, they've lost six times. Reports of their invincibility have been greatly exaggerated throughout this year.

Understandably, the club was flattened by the death of assistant coach Brett Ratten's son, Cooper, in the days preceding the Port game. A club insider said the place was "flat" following the Cooper tragedy, with many staff tearful at work on Monday.

As with most wrenching personal traumas that afflict footy teams, it is nigh on impossible to gauge what impact, if any, this awful event had on the Hawthorn players when they took the field. What we can safely say is that the Hawks will not be offering it as an excuse.

Whatever the cause, the Hawks were subdued on Friday night against a team that had much less to gain, a lapse that has very likely cost them any chance of finishing second and hosting West Coast at the MCG in the first week of the finals. The Eagles have only to win two of their three games to secure home field, albeit the Dogs and Crows are challenging assignments for them.

Luke Hodge's unusual head-high bump on Chad Wingard was one of few occasions when Hawthorn's notorious aggression was evident against Port. This should earn Hodge a week or two's suspension, a rest that actually could be beneficial for the skipper. The Hawks play the Lions and Carlton next and couldn't possibly drop those games, with or without Hodge.

So, barring further weird results, Hawthorn are set to play a qualifying final in Perth, probably against the Eagles. If they can win that high-stakes game, they will be odds on to win the premiership. If they lose, then the degree of difficulty will multiply - it would require them to win in the second week against an in-form opponent (such as Richmond, Dogs or North Melbourne) and then most likely return to Perth for a preliminary final. They would be playing four finals, not the standard three, and have potentially two trips across the Nullarbor.

Still, if any team could confront and negotiate that kind of steep incline, it is the Hawks. Fittingly, their situation is somewhat analogous to the Brisbane three-peat team of 2003, which finished third, travelled and lost, then won three finals on end - including a preliminary final on the road (Sydney) - and entered the grand final with a casualty ward of banged up players.

For all their difficulties in that finals series, the Lions were still markedly superior to their opponents that year - the Collingwood they creamed had names that didn't belong in a premiership 22.

Hawthorn of 2015 aren't so far ahead of the Eagles and Dockers, and the teams below - especially the insurgent Dogs and Tigers - shape as dangerous if they can maintain the rage, too.

West Coast, as the likely opponents in the first week, also contain a specific challenge for the Hawks: Nic Naitanui, who can jump over anyone. In 2013, the Hawks managed to negate Aaron Sandilands somewhat in the grand final, while last year they were afforded the luxury of playing the Swans, who are weak in the ruck.

On Friday night, Paddy Ryder was untroubled in jumping over the leap-less Ben McEvoy and the smaller Jarryd Roughead. Ryder is a form guide for what would happen against the hyper athletic Naitanui, who did not play in the round 19 game in Perth that the Hawks won.

Lately, Hawthorn has been effective in reducing the influence of Sandilands - in part by taking defensive postures at centre bounces and stoppages - but the high leaping rucks present a harder ask. On what we've seen, Jonathan Ceglar should be preferred to McEvoy against Naitanui. If Nic Nat can treat Ivan Maric as a ruck bag, Big Ben will struggle.

Brian Lake is another question mark. When he is switched on and fit, he is still a tremendous power defender, capable of intercepting and spoiling and of constraining the opposition's "monster" forwards. Yet Brian is also wont to have momentary lapses of reason, or concentration. It was noteworthy that Alastair Clarkson subbed him out against Port.

On the plus side, Hawthorn's injury prospectus is excellent. They have precious few in the infirmary and are in a position to strategically rest one or two players in the final two rounds and wind themselves up for the expected trip to the west.

They can begin planning for the road trip in the coming days, and learning everything you needed to know about West Coast but were afraid to ask. They already know how the Eagles play - Adam Simpson has taken their intellectual property west.

The mighty fighting Hawks face an almighty challenge. If they can do it, it will surely eclipse even the storied flags of 1989, 1991, 2008 and 1971. The road ahead is a steep task, a tough ask. But only a mug would be confident they can't three-peat.