HAWTHORN has made a mockery of its pre-Grand Final underdog status to smash the Sydney Swans by 63 points at the MCG on Saturday and claim its 12th premiership.
After the Swans kicked two of the game's opening three goals, Hawthorn completely dominated the game, their 21.11 (137) to 11.8 (74) victory clinching back-to-back flags for just the second time in the club's history.
It was the Hawks' wise old heads who led the way, with skipper Luke Hodge, former skipper Sam Mitchell and vice-captain Jordan Lewis ensuring Hawthorn avenged its 2012 Grand Final loss to the Swans.
Although it was hard to split the three stars, Hodge edged his two long-term teammates by one vote to win the Norm Smith Medal for best on ground. It was Hodge's second Norm Smith after he won the honour in the Hawks' 2008 premiership win.
The Hawk skipper had 35 possessions and, as usual, did it all for the Hawks, cutting off Swans attacks at half-back, winning clearances in the midfield and drifting forward to kick two goals.
Lewis finished with a game-high 37 possessions and Mitchell had 33 as the Hawks' midfield dominated a Swans' on-ball division widely acknowledged as the best in the competition.
Hawthorn spearhead Jarryd Roughead kicked a game-high five goals to follow up his bag of six against Port Adelaide last Saturday, and, perhaps more satisfyingly, claimed bragging rights over good mate and former Hawk Lance Franklin.
Franklin did his part for his new club with four goals, but was powerless to stop his former team's weight of dominance around the ground.
The Hawks' gamble on recalling Cyril Rioli for his first senior game since suffering a serious hamstring injury in round 15 paid off. The star forward had just nine possessions, but constantly harassed the Swans' defenders until he was substituted from the game early in the final term.
Nick Malceski, who is widely expected to leave the Swans in the free agency period that starts on Friday, was one of the Swans' better performers with 26 possessions.
Josh Kennedy (29 possesions) played a lone hand for the Swans in the midfield as their on-ball division lowered its colours for one of the few times this year.
The Swans headed into Saturday's game as strong favourites after their dominant preliminary final win over North Melbourne and the Hawks' desperate three-point win over Port Adelaide.
However, the Hawks saved their 2014 best for last, stunning the Swans with suffocating pressure that forced the minor premier into a uncharacteristic slew of errors by hand and foot.
At kick-ins, the unlucky Swan with the ball in his hands often looked like a deer in the headlights and just as often coughed the ball straight up to the Hawks.
The Hawks, meanwhile, found time and space to slice the Swans apart with their unrivalled foot skills. And when they were not doing that, the likes of Bradley Hill and Liam Shiels were running the Swans ragged in open space.
In defence, last year's Norm Smith medallist Brian Lake was outstanding on Swans spearhead Kurt Tippett and Josh Gibson racked up 32 possessions.
The Hawks have now won three premierships since 2008, equalling Geelong's tally over the past decade.
The Cats' 2007, 2009 and 2011 flags looked to have stamped them as the dominant team of this era, but the Hawks (2008, 2012-13) now have a legitimate claim to sharing that title.
Hawks coach Alastair Clarkson is now equal with John Kennedy snr and Allan Jeans as the most successful Hawthorn premiership coach, with the trio each boasting three flags.
Since entering the VFL/AFL competition in 1925, the Hawks had previously won back-to-back flags just once, in 1988-89.
The Swans started Saturday's game well enough and led by six points at the 13-minute mark of the first quarter.
But the Hawks took total control from there, slamming on the final four goals of the term to go into quarter-time 20 points in front.
The Hawks' dominance was reflected in the first-quarter tackle count (22-7), inside 50s (19-7) and uncontested possessions (69-48).
The Swans kicked the first goal of the second term through former Hawk Ben McGlynn to cut their deficit to 14 points.
But this proved a false dawn for Swans supporters as the Hawks piled on the next five goals, with Hodge's goal at the 16-minute mark of the second term putting Hawthorn up by 47 points.
The Swans then kicked consecutive goals for the first time in the game, through Adam Goodes and Franklin, to cut the Hawks' lead to 35 points at the 25-minute mark.
But when Roughead goaled less than three minutes later the Swans went into half-time 42 points down and had to engineer a comeback like Carlton's in the 1970 Grand Final to win.
But where the Blues were able to come back from 44 points down at the main break to beat Collingwood in 1970, the Hawks never allowed the Swans the faintest sniff of victory in the second half.
SYDNEY SWANS 2.3 5.3 8.5 11.8 (74)
HAWTHORN 5.5 11.9 16.11 21.11 (137)
GOALS
Sydney Swans: Franklin 4, Goodes 2, Jack 2, Kennedy, McGlynn, Tippett
Hawthorn: Roughead 5, Breust 3, Langford 3, Gunston 2, Hodge 2, Burgoyne 2, Hale, Hill, Puopolo, Suckling
BEST
Sydney Swans: Franklin, Malceski, Kennedy, Shaw, Goodes
Hawthorn: Hodge, Lewis, Mitchell, Roughead, Hill, Lake, Langford, Burgoyne
INJURIES
Sydney Swans: Jetta (concussion)
Hawthorn: Nil
SUBSTITUTES
Sydney Swans: Jake Lloyd replaced by Craig Bird in the third quarter
Hawthorn: Cyril Rioli replaced by Taylor Duryea in the fourth quarter
Reports: Nil
Umpires: Stevic, Nicholls, Meredith
Official crowd: 99,454 at the MCG
