Clarkson and his players had a long meeting after the game, which Port won by 22 points in front of 28,657 fans at Etihad Stadium.

Hawthorn had been fighting for a top-two position on the ladder, behind Fremantle.

Hodge bumped Wingard as they both ran towards goal. Wingard then appeared to hit his head hard on a point post and fell sideways.

Clarkson played down the incident, saying it looked worse in slow motion.

"Just run the tape at full speed. Hard game," he said. "It's a game at full speed... they'll look at it and they'll make their determinations from that, but [it's] a pretty tough call."

Clarkson said Port Adelaide were sharper and seemed hungrier than the Hawks. He was mystified that Port had won just 10 of 20 games this season.

"We were beaten by a far better side on the night, probably the scoreboard flattered us a little bit in the end," he said.

But Clarkson warned against discounting the Hawks, saying they were capable of bouncing back.

He said for a long time Hawthorn's best football had been good enough to match any side in the competition.

"It's not like, oh gee this is catastrophic, we're no chance of winning the flag now," he said. "That's far from the truth, we weren't anywhere near our best tonight."

Hawthorn now has a relatively easy run, playing wooden-spoon contenders Brisbane and Carlton.

Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley admitted it was frustrating to beat premiership-favourite Hawthorn and be all but out of finals contention.

"We haven't been good enough all year, we are where we deserve to be, we played good footy tonight though, so we should be proud of that," he said.

Hawthorn and Port Adelaide share a recent history of close finishes. When the teams met in round four, Port kicked 8.2 to the Hawks' 1.2 in the first quarter. The Hawks fought back but lost by eight points.

Before that, they met in the 2014 preliminary final, which Hawthorn won by three points.

Hinkley said the Hawks played tough, physical football, but that the teams matched up well.

"We know they're (an) enormous challenge, but it's pretty significant tonight to come to Melbourne and be able to beat them," he said.

Hinkley, too, made little of Hodge's bump on Wingard – to which the Port player responded with two quick goals.

"I didn't actually see what went on, I've heard a few people talk about it," he said. "Hodgy plays hard footy, I love that, Chad plays hard footy, we love playing hard football teams, it's good for us and good for our development."