Hawthorn star Jaeger O’Meara wouldn’t say the Hawks are playing boring footy, but even if they are he’d much prefer to be a dull winner than an exciting loser.

A disappointing crowd of 14,636 – a season-low for any game at the MCG this year – turned out on Sunday to watch a defensively-disciplined Hawthorn grind out an upset win over GWS.

AFL great and Seven Network commentator Wayne Carey was less-than-impressed by the low-scoring affair, declaring the Hawks “are now the most boring team in the competition that no one wants to watch”.

Boring or not, the win was important for Hawthorn, who improved to ninth on the ladder with a 4-4 record.

“I’m not too sure about that … I think at the weekend we played with a lot of spirit and energy,” O’Meara said of the unflattering label.

“I’m not too sure about boring but if we did look boring on the weekend then I’m happy to be boring because we had a really good win.

“… It’s been a bit of an up and down season for us but I thought we implemented the plan we went into the GWS game with really well as a group.”

Only a week earlier, master coach Alastair Clarkson branded his team “middle of the road” after a disappointing loss to Melbourne, so it didn’t surprise when his players were spurred into action against the Giants.

What did surprise was the 10.11 (71) to 5.8 (38) win came with limited input from O’Meara, who was kept to a season-low 15 possessions by GWS tagger Matt De Boer.

“I felt like I was still able to make a contribution to the team,” O’Meara said.

“It obviously makes it a little bit tougher (when I’m tagged), but it’s not something that I’m going to complain about.

“I’ll prepare accordingly. I’ve got Sam Mitchell and Tom Mitchell here and both have had tags their whole careers, so I’ve been picking their brains and trying to learn a few things.

“I’ll continue to try to get better.”

The Hawks can jump into the top eight with a win when they take on Richmond at the MCG on Sunday.