Hawthorn and its coach Peter Schwab looked close to breaking point following a horrible week for the embattled AFL club.

Schwab suddenly walked away from a pre-training media conference on Thursday at Glenferrie Oval after nearly breaking down in tears.

He had passionately defended the club, facing repeated questions about the drink-driving controversy involving players Danny Jacobs and Lance Picioane.

While the club has sanctioned the pair, that has not ended speculation about what happened early last Saturday.

Schwab also became animated as he tried to deflect queries about unsubstantiated rape allegations, dating back to Hawthorn's 1999 end-of-season trip to Hawaii.

"Please, we aren't a bad football club, it's a great football club and like everyone else we're doing everything we can, alright?," he said before suddenly ending the media conference and walking back to the changerooms.

Football manager John Hook then angrily confronted a reporter about the line of questioning in the media conference.

The week's events piled the pressure on Schwab and his team, which has lost its last five games.

Picioane and Jacobs were each fined $5,000 by Hawthorn and Picioane suspended for one week after the car they were in was pulled over by police early Saturday morning.

Jacobs, who was found to have fabricated his story, had his driver's licence cancelled for one year and fined $420 by police.

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