1. Hawks rack up another one in Launceston
As wins at their Launceston fortress go, Saturday's 72-point win over the Lions appeared quite reflected a pattern that has emerged regularly as they’ve recorded 15 wins on the trot at Aurora Stadium.
Having weathered the early storm, the Hawks flexed their collective muscle after the first break and pulled steadily away as the afternoon progressed.
Notably, however, they managed the feat without captain Luke Hodge and midfield marvel Sam Mitchell and were also without Brendon Bolton in the coach's box following his mid-week departure to take the reins at Carlton.
And while Alastair Clarkson will no doubt take the result, he'll know that giving up a three-goal first-quarter lead at any point between now and the end of the season might represent a bigger handicap than it did against the lowly Lions.
2. Close to a perfect 10
The way Hawthorn's dominant second quarter had unfolded, just about every one of the 11,371 patrons on hand must have expected Jarryd Roughead to nail his 31st-minute set-shot – and it was only when his kick slid right that the Hawthorn copy-book had been blotted for the term.
Before Roughead's 45m miss, the Hawks had piled on 10 straight goals to completely assert themselves on the contest after a decidedly sluggish start.
Having given up a 17-point lead to the Lions in the opening term, the dual reigning premiers picked up a gear or two with the breeze at their backs.
3. A handy game from Rockliff
Having recorded a remarkable 17 disposals during the opening term and 45 for the day, on closer inspection, skipper Tom Rockliff’s stats screamed 'handball happy' on a breezy day in Launceston.
Rockliff was effective in close, winning 11 clearances and laying 14 tackles, but it could be argued that too few of his disposals were by foot – particularly in the first and third quarters when the Lions had the advantage of the breeze and could surely have benefited from moving the ball forward quickly.
Of his 45 touches, Rockliff finished with 32 handballs and just six effective kicks. Perhaps the real issue was with a lack of obvious targets in a forwardline well blanketed by Hawthorn's miserly defence, but in allowing time for the Hawks to set-up defensive zones the Lions could only manage 37 forward 50m entries on the day.
4. Ton up for Gunston
Playing his 100th AFL game, Hawks forward Jack Gunston was chief among the second-quarter goal kickers, registering three majors on his way to four for the afternoon.
The former Crow was able to find space over the back as his teammates up the ground feasted on Lions' turnovers – particularly those resulting from overuse of handball through midfield.
At the main break, the Lions had recorded 106 handballs and 84 kicks while, on the surface at least, it appeared that Hawthorn’s preference to move the ball more frequently by foot was paying dividends.
5. My miss was better than yours
Such is the dead-eye reputation Luke Breust has earned during his 112-game career, seeing him unceremoniously shank a shot at goal during the third term was something of a novelty on an otherwise routine afternoon in Launceston.
The Hawks have won 15 consecutive matches at Aurora Stadium and while he's played a key role in plenty of those victories, rarely would Breust have kicked one as badly as he did at the city end of the ground during the third term.
Perhaps bringing even greater attention to Breust’s big miss was an equally notable shank from second-game forward James Sicily only minutes beforehand. Having drilled a long set-shot at the other end, Sicily somehow duffed the ball into the man-on-the-mark from no more than 20m out, directly in front of goal.
Luckily for Sicily, the next chance he had to atone for the miss was on the final siren where he nailed another long-range effort to send Hawks fans homes with a more pleasing memory.
