In a tweet

The Rundown

Billed as a fierce match-up between two top-eight sides, the clash between the Hawks and Dees looked a salivating prospect.

Hawthorn looked in trouble early however as Melbourne piled on four consecutive goals – three of which came from the boot of forward Dean Kent – before the Hawks pinned the margin back to 12 points at quarter time.

Luke Breust continued his good early-season form, kicking his third goal for the game to start the second term as the Hawks soon grabbed the lead.

Keeping the Demons goalless for the quarter as their intercept marking down back came to the fore, cutting off the Demon’s forward forays, the Hawks managed to hold an eight-point advantage at the main break.

Their dominance continued after half time, kicking four goals to none as they controlled proceedings around stoppages as the margin pushed out to 32 points heading into the last quarter.

A goal to versatile forward Jack Gunston to start the term all but put the game out of reach for the Dees, with the Hawks running out the game strongly, kicking a further six goals to one to finish 67-point victors.

It wasn’t all good news however for the Hawks with livewire forwards Cyril Rioli (medial ligament) and Paul Puopolo (hamstring) both appearing to suffer serious injuries.

Read - Bupa recovery report: SF

The Star

Liam Shiels played arguably his best game for the season, picking up a game-high 31 disposals.

With fellow midfielder Tom Mitchell relatively well contained, Shiels stepped up, leading the Hawks midfield with eight clearances, six inside 50s and 14 tackles.

The Moment

Just eight points up in the third term with the ball deep in the Hawks’ backline, James Sicily gathered the football before bombing it long into the centre of the ground, with Tim O’Brien and Sam Frost chasing after the loose ball.

The pair clashed, loosing their footing, leaving Jaeger O’Meara to stream through, soccering the ball deep inside fifty before outrunning a trio of Dees and sending through a spectacular goal to further dim the Dee’s hopes with the Hawks’ sixth consecutive major.

The Coach

"We got some opportunities, none of them were pretty goals, but we were able to grind away and get some scoreboard pressure and that pressure ended up overwhelming Melbourne in the end and we were able to run out pretty comfortable winners."

  • Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson

 

HAWTHORN   3.5       7.5       11.7     18.7 (115)
MELBOURNE  5.5       5.9       5.11     6.12 (48)

GOALS
Hawthorn: Breust 4, Roughead 3, O'Brien 3, O'Meara 2, Smith 2, Gunston 2, Puopolo, Henderson
Melbourne: Kent 3, Hogan, Salem, Neal-Bullen

BEST 
Hawthorn: Shiels, Gunston, O'Meara, Smith, Breust, Sicily, Mitchell
Melbourne: Oliver, Neal-Bullen, Hogan, N.Jones, Kent

INJURIES 
Hawthorn: Frawley (migraine), Rioli (medial ligament), Puopolo (hamstring)
Melbourne: Jetta (leg)

Reports: Nil

Umpires: Foot, Margetts, Chamberlain

Official crowd: 41,973 at the MCG