CARLTON coach Brett Ratten has lamented his side's inability to convert first-half opportunities after slipping to a four-point loss to Hawthorn at the MCG.

"You fight very hard during the day and sometimes you come up short – across the board our boys were a little bit gutted from that – but our intensity and the way we went about it was really good," Ratten said.

"We just had blokes who misused the footy a fair bit, especially through that first half, and we paid a huge price."

Ratten heaped praise on Brendan Fevola for his eight-goal haul despite his heart-breaking poster that would have put his side in front with just over a minute left.  

"We were half celebrating, I was fully celebrating, and the next minute you look at the replay, it's done a nosedive and clipped the post; that's footy," he said.

"There were a lot of things – our first half, to have 31 inside 50s to 19 – that's when you've got to grab your opportunities and we didn't convert. They won a lot of one-on-ones in our forward 50 ... there were a lot of other things before that kick.
   
"It was an outstanding performance to kick 8.4; he did a great job for the team. Other players in the game had a moment they wish they could change."

Jarryd Roughead was on fire at the other end of the ground with eight goals of his own. Bret Thornton was matched up on the big Hawk all day and Ratten praised the defender for his efforts despite admitting he had mulled over making a change at one point.

"We talked about it at half time and we worked out that out of the six goals [he had kicked], three were from turnovers so he [Thornton] couldn't even create a one-on-one," he explained.
   
"It was a tough one ... Bret did some great things today for the team. You can never question his commitment and courage. Roughead was in good touch.

Ratten didn't believe his players had been drained by an emotional week in which former president Richard Pratt passed away. On the contrary, he was delighted with his team's mental application against the reigning premiers.

"We spoke after the game about the intensity required and Hawthorn are the benchmark, to win the grand final, and how well they do a lot of things in the game," he said.

"The pleasing aspect out of this game, [where] we should take a lot of confidence, is that's the intensity you have to play week in week out and we, to a degree, matched Hawthorn.
   
"We get a lot of positives out of that ... our challenge is can we repeat that, regardless of who we play."