Unimpressed Sydney co-captain Jarrad McVeigh has labelled a kiss from Hawthorn's Will Langford as "disrespectful" on a night the Hawks' on-field demeanour was questioned.

Langford, one of the more vocal players in a clash full of feeling, kissed McVeigh on the cheek after the former Swans captain had snapped a crucial fourth-quarter goal at the MCG.

The pair had earlier tangled when a frustrated McVeigh conceded a free kick to Langford inside attacking 50. McVeigh, later smarting from a six-point loss, revealed Langford had also kissed him then.

"He did it beforehand as well, earlier on, and I probably reacted too much and gave away a free kick," McVeigh told Triple M.

"I'm not going to stand there and take that. I thought it was pretty disrespectful. But that's the way it is."

McVeigh's immediate displeasure with the kiss was picked up on camera.

Hawks captain Jarryd Roughead said on Saturday he had no issue with Langford adopting the tactic in a bid to unnerve an opponent.

He said "it was Langers' way of trying to get under the skin of an opposition player" but admitted it was a "little bit different to probably what a lot of us would do if we were in that position".

It's not the first time there has been a kiss in a match involving these heated rivals. Luke Hodge gave Lance Franklin one in the 2014 grand final.

In a low-scoring but gripping clash, there were plenty of verbal barbs exchanged between players.

Hawks coach Alastair Clarkson was forced to defend emerging defender James Sicily, who was particularly vocal towards Swans' defender Zak Jones.

Sicily appeared to be on edge all game and his emotions got the better of him in the third term when he conceded a 50-metre penalty, allowing Lance Franklin to boot his only goal. Hodge had tried to calm Sicily down but that did not work.

Sicily had also found himself in the spotlight last week for his verbal spray towards teammate Taylor Duryea during the win over the Dockers in Perth.

Clarkson said he wanted Sicily, who had begun his career as a forward last season, to continue to play with emotion.

"Sicily is still learning the game. I was really pleased because there were a couple of times he got right on the edge and where I thought he was going to lose it, [but he didn't]. He's just grown as a player and he's got some good guys around him who try to keep him out of strife when his temper flares a little bit," he said.

"But guys that play on the edge like that, sometimes they're going to go over the top. Sometimes you've just got to keep them underneath the line but he's played some really important football for us in the last few weeks and he'll continue to learn about himself."

Despite having lost only two of their past 12 matches, the defeat has hurt the Swans' hopes of finishing in the top four. The Hawks remain in finals contention but will ned to win all of their remaining matches, against Richmond, North Melbourne, Carlton and the Western Bulldogs.

"In terms of week to week this is a young group that's gaining some real belief and where it takes us I don't know," Clarkson said.

"We're going to try and continue to win games of footy and the last five or six weeks we've gained enormous belief in one another and that can take you a long way when you've got that so who knows what's going to happen."