Hawthorn    6.4   12.5    15.9     18.11   (119)                  
Collingwood    4.5     9.8     9.11    12.12   (84)          

Goals: Hawthorn: Franklin 4, Smith 3, Gunston 2, Whitecross 2, Rioli, Breust, Hale, Puopolo, Hill, Roughead, Lewis
Collingwood: Cloke 3, Blair 2, Beams 2, Lynch, Elliott, Thomas, O'Brien, Swan

Best: Hawthorn: Hodge, Sewell, Franklin, Gibson, Birchall, Whitecross, Smith
Collingwood: Pendlebury, Macaffer, Swan, Beams, Grundy, Brown

Hawthorn continued its dominance over Collingwood on Friday night, making it nine wins from 12 starts against the Magpies.

The Hawks played a solid four-quarter game against the Pies to solidify their place in the top two and further stake their claim for a home final in week one of the finals series.

Keeping the Pies at bay

From midway through the opening term when the Hawks opened up a three goal lead, the Magpies could never break the two-three goal barriers and get within real striking distance.

The Hawks did the damage via the centre square, winning the centre clearances in the opening term and making them count by driving the ball deep inside 50 to open up what would be a match-winning buffer.

At the 17-minute mark of the first term, Collingwood led by a point until Isaac Smith broke clear and kicked the first of three Hawthorn goals in four minutes.

Lance Franklin and Brendan Whitecross, straight from a centre bounce clearance kicked the Hawks to an 18-point lead and although the Pies dew one back last in the opening term to close the gap to two goals, a David Hale goaled in the opening minutes of the second term to again open a three goal advantage.

That three goal buffer proved the difference in the game when the Hawks eventually exerted their authority over the Pies with the first four goals of the second term to lead by six goals.

Collingwood came again, kicking two goals in quick succession before Lance Franklin responded with two of his own to keep the margin at five goals.

Although Collingwood kicked the final three goals of the half, they still trailed by 15 points at the main break.

Hawthorn then kicked the only three goals of the third term to open again a six-goal lead, a margin that proved to be a match winning one.

At no stage in the second half did Collingwood get within striking distance, with the Hawks shutting down the game midway through the final term with a 23-point lead in their back pocket.

Although the Pies were pressing, the Hawthorn defence was resolute and the midfield workman-like, working as hard as it did at the opening bounce to help the defence and ensure Collingwood couldn’t break the three-goal and barrier to really challenge for victory.

Polish

It was Hawthorn’s ability to make their disposal and forward entries count that was the difference in the game and helped keep the three-goal lead in check.

In the opening term, when Hawthorn kicked 6.4 to 4.5, the Hawks’ kicking efficiency ran at 78.6 per cent compared to Collingwood 64.4 per cent and it was little wonder why the Hawks looked so dangerous when going forward.

That was a trend that continued for the remainder of Friday night’s game, with Hawthorn’s skill execution far superior to Collingwood’s.

At half time, Hawthorn’s disposal by foot ran at 77.2 per cent to Collingwood’s 68.4 and only dropped in the third term because of the slippery conditions.

The Hawks finished with a kicking efficiency of 70.1 and had 143 effective kicks to Collingwood’s 63.5 per cent and 122 effective kicks.

It was, in the end the difference between the two sides as Hawthorn’s defence was able to defend well against Collingwood’s poor skill execution to its forwards and make them pay at the other end, with the ability to hit their forwards inside 50.

In fact, Hawthorn took 20 marks inside 50 to Collingwood’s 11, the most of any team against Collingwood since 2007.

Solid defence

Brian Lake got off to a shaky start against Collingwood big man Travis Cloke, with the forward kicking his team’s first two goals of the game.

But after that, Lake steadied and was one of his team’s best because of his ability to stop the dangerous forwards.

Credit must go though, to the ability of Josh Gibson and Luke Hodge to work together and generate the loose man and third-man up situation to long kicks inside Collingwood’s forward 50.

Hodge and Gibson rotated through Ben Reid and Quinten Lynch to ensure at least one of them could zone off and help Lake on Cloke. It was an effective tactic used by the Hawks, which enabled them to restrict Collingwood’s scoring power.

A new role for Whitecross?

Since his return in Round 14, Brendan Whitecross has been given roles on some of the opposition’s best players and performed them without much fanfare, but Friday night’s performance was different.

Whitecross spent time on both Heath Shaw and Nick Maxwell inside 50 for Hawthorn and played the role brilliantly.

Shaw and Maxwell had no impact on the game and their ability to zone off and help Lachie Keeffe and Nathan Brown on Franklin and Roughead was stopped thanks to Whitecross’ ability to provide his teammates with a hit-up option.

The message from Alastair Clarkson would have been to go through Whitecross as much as possible to make the Collingwood defenders accountable, and they did that perfectly.

Whitecross finished with 17 disposals and two goals, while Shaw had only nine touches and Maxwell 10. It was by far his best performance of the season.

Special mention

The performance of Luke Hodge must be mentioned and can only be described as herculean given he had only a week before had surgery to repair a fractured thumb.

Hodge was best afield with 28 disposals and eight marks and was the general across half back, almost stopping Collingwood forward entries every time he was in the vicinity.

The game of Brad Sewell too mustn’t go without acknowledgement, winning 27 disposals in a return to form proving again that he is a big game player suited to finals football.

Sewell has been under pressure in recent weeks since he was dropped after the loss to Geelong, but his performance on Friday night reminded everyone why he has been such a reliable and consistent player over a long period for Hawthorn.

What the coaches said

Hawthorn’s Alastair Clarkson: "It was a really tough contest, and it's a nice reminder of what's coming in a few weeks' time.

"Both sides were really hard at it, and we were pleased that we were able to stand up under the pressure.

"The Pies have been outstanding in the past couple of weeks, so we knew the fight was going to be on tonight.

 "We were really proud of our players."

Collingwood’s Nathan Buckley: “There were a lot of clinches out there and I thought they were just that little bit better in tight.

"When we had a chance to tackle we just didn't lay the tackle as effectively. That's an element of the game that was within our control and one that told at certain stages.

"I thought the flow of the play was pretty even, [and] I thought we finished the game stronger to be honest. We finished most quarters stronger."