Isaac Smith has denied a crucial non-decision paid in his favour late in Hawthorn's win over Adelaide on Friday night was adjudicated incorrectly.

With the Hawks leading by three points in the game's dying seconds, Hawthorn speedster Smith was wrapped up in a Rory Sloane tackle, with the ball coming free 20 metres from the Crows goal. The ball spilled free, but the Adelaide midfielder was not rewarded.

The siren sounded a moment later, with the Hawks holding out for their third consecutive three-point victory. There was much debate on radio and social media about whether Smith should have been deemed to be holding the ball. Dual Sydney premiership player Jude Bolton said the Crows had been unlucky. "It's holding the ball," Bolton told Channel Seven on Saturday.

"It would have been a free kick any other time except the last 10 seconds of the game."

But Smith would not acknowledge that he had been fortunate. Questioned as to whether a free kick should have been paid, Smith said "no, not at all."

"The ball was in the air and someone had to go up and grab it, so I grabbed it and punched it straight into the ground," Smith told SEN on Saturday.

"They haven't been calling them 'holding the balls' for a while.

"I definitely got a handball into it.

"The rest is history, and it was a great win."

The Hawks have advanced to 4-1, with their premiership defence on track despite the repeated close shaves.

Smith said it wasn't a major concern that his team had been challenged three weeks running, firstly by the Western Bulldogs, then St Kilda, and on Friday night by the Crows.

"People have to be writing things at this time of year. We're not playing our best footy, and we know that, but we're getting our wins on the board, and it's important to get early wins.

"We've just got to continue winning.

"We've obviously been in a lot of close games with this core.

"We know that if we keep on getting in games like that we're bound to lose.

"For the cockroach's [coach Alastair Clarkson's] heart I think he'd prefer us to win by a couple of goals."

Hawthorn lost the contested possession count by 18 against Adelaide. It was the continuation of a trend, with the Saints having had 13 more contested possessions than the Hawks in round four, and the Bulldogs winning the category by 29 a week earlier.

Smith said Hawthorn were finding avenues to goal in other ways.

"I think probably over 100 years contested ball has stood up pretty well. If you're winning that you can control and dictate the game. But footy's a lot of turnovers now.

"I would have a feeling that scores from turnovers would be going up this year."

But the three-time premiership player said it was an area they needed to work on.

"All I know is in big finals you've got to be winning contested ball."

In any case Smith said he had been impressed by the improvement of Adelaide.

"Not being disrespectful to the Crows, there was a couple of players that I didn't know much about. They've sort of popped up this year. [Mitch] McGovern's a bit like that. He's a bit like his brother [West Coast's Jeremy] in that he takes a strong grab. He's going to be a really good player.

"Blokes like [David] Mackay, [Rory] Sloane, [Rory] Atkins.

"If a team loses their best player [Patrick Dangerfield], they seem to maybe gel a bit better.

"It's really good to see the Adelaide Crows doing well. I think they're going to be a really good side.

"They've got some really good players playing good footy."