Hawthorn 2.4 10.9 13.12 17.17 (119)
Fremantle 0.3 2.6 7.8 9.9 (63)

Goals: Hawthorn: Roughead 4; Suckling, Rioli, Breust 2; Lewis, Mitchell, Young, Guerra, Hale, Franklin, Smith
Fremantle: Ballantyne 2, Crowley, Barlow, Mayne, Neale, Clarke, Johnson, Dawson.
Best: Hawthorn: Young, Rioli, Mitchell, Gibson, Roughead, Guerra
Fremantle: Barlow, Johnson, Broughton, Crowley, McPharlin, Sandilands.

Hawthorn dismantled the Dockers the last time the two sides met, which, ironically was also at Aurora Stadium last season.

After a tough opening quarter in which both teams struggled to capitalise in front of goal, the Hawks rallied in the second half of the second term in a burst that showed how dangerous it can be when they’re playing their best football.

The Hawks led by just 11 points midway through the second quarter before it piled on eight unanswered goals to finish the quarter with a 51 point advantage.

The usually stingy Fremantle defensive crumbled under the relentless pressure applied by the Hawks, led by livewire forward Cyril Rioli who finished with eight tackles for the game. But, it wasn’t only the tackling pressure that had the Dockers’ backline trembling in the second quarter, it was also the barrage of inside 50s the Hawks were able to muster, giving its forwards a number of opportunities to score.

The Hawks led the inside 50 count at half time 40-15, and from those 40 entries had 19 scoring shots to 8. The game was played almost exclusively in Hawthorn’s forward half because of their dominance at the clearances, leading the stat 25-12 at the main break.

Doing most of the damage in the middle were Sam Mitchell (eight clearances) and Liam Shiels (seven), while Jordan Lewis (five) and Brad Sewell (four) were also dominant in the centre across the four quarters.

Rioli managed only 14 disposals for the game, but his forward pressure and ability to impact the game without ball in hand amplified his status as one of the most dangerous and best players in the league. He kicked two goals and could easily have been given three Brownlow votes for his performance.

Such was Hawthorn’s dominance that 11 players had 20 disposals or more and only three failed to get to the double digits. Compare that with the Dockers who has only six players have 20 plus disposals to ultimately have 61 less possessions on the day – that’s almost two extra Hawthorn players.

With a commanding 51-point advantage at the start of the third term, the Hawks took its foot off the accelerator, but the Dockers could only close the margin to 40 points at the final change.

Even as Fremantle improved their ball use and got their running game going, the Hawks were in control despite losing the quarter 3.3 to 4.2.

The final term was elementary as the Hawks kicked four goals to secure a thumping win over Fremantle, and a winning margin of 56 points – something that surprised many given a close, dour contest was expected because of the way the Dockers play their football under Ross Lyon.

The Hawks smashed the Dockers at the stoppages, ending the game with 48 clearances to 24 and plus 30 in the inside 50s – 67-37.

It was a complete domination.

Jarryd Roughead proved the most dangerous big man on the ground by kicking four goals and providing a towering presence as he proved too big and strong for the undersized Docker defence.

In his 100^th match for the Club, Clinton Young was best on ground with 25 disposals, 11 inside 50s and a goal.