The Hawks slumped to a 51-point loss to Port Adelaide at Adelaide Oval on Thursday night, leaving them 14th on the ladder with a 4-7 record.

Hawthorn were kept scoreless in the first term and goalless in the opening half, recording their lowest-ever first-half score.

Clarkson’s side played for pride in the second half and were gallant but the defeat leaves them out of finals calculations for the first time since 2009.

It’s also left question marks on the futures of Hawks veterans like Josh Gibson, Shaun Burgoyne Luke Hodge and Jarryd Roughead, with Jordan Lewis, Sam Mitchell and Brad Hill among those to leave after last season.

“It’s exactly like 2008 and having four or five guys finish up at your footy club for various reasons,” Clarkson said.

“That’s what’s happened to us in the last two or three years.

“Now the baton has been passed again and it’s time for these guys to carry the club forward.

“I'm really confident that boys will be able to do it.

"When that is, it might take a little bit of time. It doesn't look like it's going to be this year but we're not going to give up on the year.

“Everything we do, this year or next year, is geared towards helping us compete for silverware again.”

Hawthorn’s fall from grace has been rapid but Clarkson said that was part of the cycle of AFL.

"For Hawthorn fans and perhaps the wider football community, it's just like 'oh, what’s happened to Hawthorn'," he said.

"It's the closeness of the competition and it's what the competition is designed for in a sense, it's difficult to stay at the top for a long, long period of time. We have been pretty good at being able to do it.

"But we are just finding it at the minute a real challenge to get everything going for us but it hasn't softened our resolve."