Hawthorn 3.9 12.10 14.14 21.17 (143)
Goals: Melbourne: Howe, Dawes, Watts, Davey, Kent, Evans
Hawthorn: Breust 5, Roughead 3, Hill 2, Smith 2, Franklin 2, Puopolo 2, Lewis, Burgoyne, Birchall, Grimley, Simpkin
Best: Melbourne: Dawes, N. Jones, Frawley, Rodan.
Hawthorn: Sewell, Breust, Burgoyne, Lewis, Smith, Mitchell.
Hawthorn powered to its scheduled Round 11 bye with a thumping win over Melbourne at the MCG on Sunday.
From the outset, the Hawks dominated play as the Demons struggled to relieve the pressure on its defence by effectively clearing the Hawthorn forward half.
The Hawks successfully strangled the Demons in the opening term, with the game played almost exclusively in its forward half, but inaccurate kicking in front of goal denied Hawthorn a bigger lead at the first change.
Nine Hawthorn goals in the term put the result beyond doubt, with the Demons registering only one goal for the half – and even that wasn’t convincing.
The Demons enjoyed a better third term, kicking four goals to Hawthorn’s two but another powerful display from Alastair Clarkson’s men in the final term had the Hawks finishing strong before the bye.
Brad Sewell was best on ground for the Hawks, while Shaun Burgoyne was excellent from the midfield and Isaac Smith arguably had his best game for the year. Luke Breust starred up forward and Sam Mitchell was at his consistent best.
Talls one week, smalls the next
Much has been said about Hawthorn’s scoring power given it has two of the best key forwards in the game at its fingertips.On Sunday against the Demons, however, it wasn’t Lance Franklin or Jarryd Roughead who did most of the damage on the scoreboard.
This time, it was Luke Breust’s turn to shine, to again show how dangerous he can be around goals.
The small forward had a leaner few weeks leading into Sunday’s match, kicking just two goals in his past three games, but from the opening term against the Demons, Breust was causing Mark Neeld headaches.
He had three shots on goal in the opening term and, uncharacteristically, missed each of those very gettable chances.
The tide soon turned though, as he finished the game with 5.3 to be the dominant forward on the ground. He didn’t miss a shot on goal after quarter time.
While Roughead kicked three and Franklin two, the pair were subdued by their counterparts, Colin Garland and James Frawley respectively.
Instead, it was the work of the Hawthorn smalls who did the damage and led the Hawks to a big win.
Bradley Hill chipped in with two, while Paul Puopolo had one of his best games for the year playing in the midfield and up forward. He finished the match with 25 disposals and two goals.
Sloppy opening, sharp second
It was a sloppy opening quarter by the Hawks despite dominating play with missed targets up forward and missed shots on goal the story of the opening term.Such was Hawthorn’s dominance; it had 19 inside 50s to eight at quarter time and dominating possession.
Uncharacteristically of the Hawks though, its disposal by foot let it down.
The Hawks ran at 57.9 per cent kicking efficiency in the opening term compared to Melbourne’s 64.7 per cent.
That led to missed targets inside 50 (it took only four marks from 19 entries) and even though the Hawks had 12 scoring shots, a return of 3.9 was poor.
That opening term was in stark contrast to what occurred in the second, however, with the Hawks equally dominating play but making no mistake when it developed scoring opportunities.
The Hawks raised its kicking efficiency to 68.7 per cent for the term and were able to release teammates in space from that (Hawthorn had 149 uncontested possessions to 113 at half time).
That efficiency also translated to better conversion in front of goal, with the Hawks finally taking full advantage of the domination it had over the Demons.
Hawthorn kicked 9.1 to 1.4 for the quarter, including three late goals within two minutes to end the half with a match-winning 69 point lead.
By the numbers
When casting an eye over the stats sheet from Sunday’s game, it comes as no surprise that the Hawks romped to a 95 point win.Hawthorn had 90 more possessions than Melbourne (419-329) – that’s an extra three players on the ground who gather 30 touches.
Melbourne were smashed in the contested ball – 163-118 and outworked on the spread, with the Hawks having 51 more uncontested possessions (256-201).
The Hawks had 64 inside 50s to 40 and took 12 marks inside the arc to six. From its 64 entries, the Hawks had 38 scoring shots. That means that every time it entered its forward 50, the Hawks had a better than 50 per cent chance of scoring from that entry.
Despite Melbourne winning the hit outs 52-43, the Hawks had more hit outs to advantage, 13-5, which led to it winning the clearances 43-37.
Youngsters shine
A positive for Coach Alastair Clarkson and the Hawks was the form of its youngsters who continue to develop at AFL level.Isaac Smith had arguably his best game for the year, with his pace and run and carry through the middle crucial to the win and to Hawthorn’s ability to keep the ball moving when it plays the top sides.
On a number of occasions, Smith used his pace to slice through the Melbourne defence to set up teammates or, kick goals himself.
His goal in the second term – as he bounced through the middle and evaded Melbourne players to finish from 30m was breathtaking.
He finished with 19 touches, three clearances, four inside 50s and two goals.
Recruit Jonathan Simpkin also had another impressive game, now five games into his career at the Hawks.
Simpkin can combine hardness and aggression with the ability to use his skills on the outside, and he has shown that with strong performances both as sub and as a starting 21 player.
He has no trouble finding the ball, 23 and 33 possessions against Greater Western Sydney and Gold Coast and another 25 possessions against the Demons on Sunday.
Bradley Hill took another step forward as he continues to find his feet at AFL level.
Hill is one of those players who glides across the turf and everything he does has a touch of class. That was again on show on Sunday as the midfielder gathered 20 possessions at 75 per cent efficiency.
When Hill gets the ball, he rarely wastes it and that has allowed him to easily slot into a Hawthorn side that prides itself on being one of the best kicking sides in the competition.
He also finished with two goals – but his first best displayed his talents as he swooped on an Isaac Smith tap, gathered with one hand and steadied to finish with a classy goal on the run at the City end of the MCG.
Special mention
He was mentioned earlier for having one of his best games for the season, but Paul Puopolo’s performance on Sunday transcended the stats sheet.On multiple occasions, Puopolo used his pace to impact a contest, get it forward, then impact the next contest and outrun each player from the first one.
The best example of this is when he sprinted to make a contest on the Southern wing, beat the oncoming traffic and kicked the ball off the ground. He continued running and again beat the oncoming traffic to the ball, tapping it to advantage to gain probably about 80 metres for his team.
Puopolo is one of those players who never gives up, who’ll never let down his coach for lack of effort. What he lacks in raw talent, he more than makes up for in endeavour and desire to succeed.
Those are the players integral to team success.
What the coaches said
Hawthorn’s Alastair Clarkson: "We've had a really, really tough start to the year and done a fair amount of travelling, so we're really pleased to be 9-1 and get a break."But we know we've got a lot of hard work ahead of us and we've got some very good sides to play in the run home as well.
"We still think there's some improvement in terms of the way that we play.”
Melbourne’s Mark Neeld: "We've got a really clear vision of where we're going, we've got a really clear pathway that we're following, and we haven't hidden that from anybody.
“We believe we're assembling a really good list that will take us forward.”
