As AFL clubs nervously feel their way through the controversial new substitution rule, Hawthorn gave a lesson on how well it can work.

Early in the third term of Sunday's match against Melbourne, still trailing by two goals, they brought off ruckman Brent Renouf for sub Jordan Lewis.

Renouf had a slight shoulder injury, but could have kept playing.

While it was a risk activating the sub voluntarily with nearly a half to play, Lewis' introduction gave Hawthorn more run through the midfield.

Also, David Hale and Jarryd Roughead combined well in the ruck as they smashed Melbourne in the second half to win by 45 points.

"Certainly it helped having another runner, the real twitchiness of that is you know when you activate your sub five minutes into the third quarter like we did, (then) you get another injury," said coach Alastair Clarkson.

"It was like, `well, we've got a fresh guy, let's get him on - we're not controlling the game and let's see if we get a change'.

"Now is that the reason for the change?

"I know Lewis had a reasonable impact in the last 40-50 minutes of the game ... that was good, but Hale and Roughy, when they competed in the ruck, were really good for us

"Certainly they made contributions, all three of those players."

Brought to you by AAP © 2024 AAP