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The Rundown

In Luke Hodge’s final game in Tasmania, Hawthorn led North Melbourne at every change as they continued their strong form in the back half of the season.

Luke Breust and Jarryd Roughead combined for seven goals between them as the Hawks just had too many threats for the Kangaroos to handle.

The Hawks led by as many as 51 points midway through the third quarter, although the Roos were able to rein that in somewhat for a final margin of 27 points.

The Star

Jack Gunston continued to show his worth as a defender in Launceston, as the two-time club leading goalkicker displayed a clear comfort playing at the other end of the ground.

Gunston finished with 27 disposals, 11 marks, three tackles and a goal in an impressive performance for the Hawks.

The Moment

Having trailed by as many as 51 points in the third term, the Kangaroos had managed to bring the margin back to 19 points with ten minutes remaining in the game.

Another goal and Hawthorn fans would have begun to get very nervous about how this match could have panned out.

But, driving his legs out of a stoppage in the middle of the ground, Will Langford gritted his teeth, breaking two tackles and emerging to send the ball deep inside forward 50.

The kick landed perfectly on Shaun Burgoyne’s chest, who deftly outmanoeuvred his North opponent before turning towards goal.

As he dribbled the ball through the goal, you could sense the Kangaroos’ fortitude had been broken. 

The Coach

"We were really good for large parts of the game but we just had a really poor 15 minutes in the back part of the third quarter that just gave them a bit of ascendancy. It made the last quarter more of a grind than we would have liked.”

  • Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson

 

HAWTHORN               5.3       10.5     15.5     18.8 (116)
NORTH MELBOURNE 3.1       5.2       12.4     14.5 (89)

GOALS
Hawthorn: Breust 4, Roughead 3, Henderson 2, Smith 2, Burgoyne 2, Gunston, Hartung, McEvoy, Howe, Miles
North Melbourne: Brown 3, Zurhaar 2, Preuss 2, Garner 2, Turner, Atley, Higgins, Mountford, McDonald

BEST 
Hawthorn: Gunston, Smith, Hodge, Mitchell, Breust, Roughead
North Melbourne: Higgins, Tarrant, Brown, Clarke, Preuss, Gibson

INJURIES 
Hawthorn: Nil
North Melbourne: Nil 

Reports: Nil

Umpires: Hay, Findlay, Glouftsis

Official crowd: 14,509 at University of Tasmania Stadium