ISAAC Smith has held sway at Hawthorn's December time trials in recent years, but it was young gun Billy Hartung who took home the chocolates in Saturday morning's run at Waverley Park.
With the sun shining brightly and a contingent of Hawthorn's faithful supporters queuing up to get their photos taken with the 2013, 2014 and 2015 premiership cups, Smith had the perfect opportunity to record back-to-back-to-back wins over Hartung in front of a big crowd.
The starting line...
Smith had pipped Hartung in the club's pre-Christmas time trial for the past two seasons, but Hartung finally got his revenge, recording a convincing victory to continue his strong pre-season to date.
The 20-year-old crossed the finish line in the 2.2-kilometre run ahead of Smith and Bradley Hill.
"There's obviously been a bit of banter about me, Issie and Hilly when it comes to the time trial, and it was finally good to get one over them this time," he said.
"He ran pretty hard, but I got over the top today so I was pretty happy with that.
Billy Hartung was in the clear at the finish line.
"The first run back in the time trial is generally a bit slower than the one before Christmas. From this time to last year, I'm a bit quicker, so I'm feeling pretty good coming back into this pre-season and hopefully I can get a bit quicker after Christmas."
Hill stormed home to catch Smith on the line - with a photo finish likely to be required to split second and third.
More than 20 players competed in the time trial, including 2015 premiership players Ben Stratton, Ben McEvoy, Luke Breust James Frawley and Paul Puopolo, while Kieran Lovell, Blake Hardwick and Kade Stewart represented this year's crop of draftees.
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