Few pundits tipped Sydney to be teaching premiers Hawthorn any sort of AFL lesson in their round two clash at ANZ Stadium on Saturday night.

But Hawks coach Alastair Clarkson concedes that's exactly what happened in the Swans' upset 38-point victory that left Hawthorn 0-2 early in their premiership defence.

Hawthorn have developed a style that has previously matched the renowned hard bodies of the Swans in the effort areas around the ground, while the Victorian club's supposedly superior skill level meant few gave Sydney a chance of victory.

The predicted script was being followed when Hawthorn kicked five of the first six goals, but the Swans steadied before kicking eight goals to four in the third term for a match-winning 21-point lead at the last change.

"We got away to a good start and just allowed them to kick a couple of goals late in the first quarter, so we didn't have quite the scoreboard ascendancy as perhaps we could have," Clarkson said.

"But they're a good side and it's hard to keep them down for a long period of time Sydney and they have some experienced campaigners who have been doing it for a long, long time.

"It's a good lesson for some of our young lads that that's the type of resilience you need to have to win games of footy on a regular basis."

The biggest slight against the Swans is that the majority of their best players are all on the wrong side of 30.

But during the week Hawthorn skipper Sam Mitchell, who was well held by Sydney's Brett Kirk on the night, said he felt that experience was an advantage for the Swans.

And so it proved in front of 33,116 fans on a cold night in Sydney.

"I've never been worried too much about the age, it's obviously more the quality of the age I guess," Swans coach Paul Roos said.

"Adelaide, probably their three best players are over 30, Richmond have got some really good players over 30.

"Some of (our older players) have been playing a lot of footy over the last six years in finals, but obviously they all turned up and played really, really well against Hawthorn.

"There's another 20 weeks to go so hopefully they've got that in them."

While Hawthorn's title defence is wobbling slightly, Clarkson feels there is plenty of time to steady the ship.

"We're not playing disgraceful footy, it's still reasonably high scoring and competitive games in both games," he said.

"We're just not getting the result at the moment.

"We'll keep working at it and see how we go against the Kangaroos next weekend.

"We've got 20 rounds to try and get our season back on track and I'm certain we will."

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