HAWTHORN came back from a narrow defeat by West Coast to dominate Fremantle in the second of the three matches at Patersons Stadium on Sunday night.

The young Hawks bolted out of the gate, after having overrun West Coast in the final stages of the opening 40-minute match, and took a 25 point lead over Fremantle at half-time.

Fremantle managed three goals in the second half but could not peg back the lead, and Hawthorn ran out easy winners, by 14 points.

The Hawks had finished the first half with the only nine-pointer of the two matches, a long snap from Hawthorn’s top draft pick, the left-footed 22-year old Isaac Smith.

Hawthorn’s game plan seemed to change markedly after half-time in the first match against West Coast. In the first part of that game, the young Hawks had plenty of the ball, but booted long into a barren front half; in the second half, and throughout the match against Fremantle, they sought targets, and found them.

Fremantle started the match strongly, with four straight behinds before Shane Savage snapped accurately for Hawthorn.

The Hawks never lost that lead, with four straight goals in the half, before Jack Anthony put Freo on the board five minutes into the second half. 

Several of Hawthorn’s new chums showed they have what it takes to make it at the highest level. Paul Puopolo is a chunky, yet pacy midfielder, who tackles hard and uses the ball selectively. Shane Savage, who played his three senior games in 2009, showed speed, skill and good decision-making, and Jordan Williams did plenty in close, and finished well with two goals.

Jordon Lisle, a 196 cm forward moved well, and just needs to work hard at his marking to make an impact.

Fremantle never seemed to really attack the game, and captain Matthew Pavlich and ruckman Aaron Sandilands spent the game on the bench in the sub’s jerseys. It seemed Freo took the view that a win against the inexperienced Hawthorn would be a given, but it was not to be.

For all that, Freo will be delighted with the form of mature-aged recruit Tendai Mzungu.

Mzungu, a fleet-footed, agile running half-back, used the ball brilliantly - it was his run and give that set up Anthony’s opening goal of the second half.
Last year’s best and fairest winner at Perth, and a high finisher in the Sandover Medal, the 24-year-old looks certain to be part of Fremantle’s best list in 2011.

Hawthorn 1.3.2 (29) 1.4.4. (37)
Fremantle 0.4 (4) 3.5 (23)

GOALS
Hawthorn: Nine-point goals: Smith Goals: Williams 2, Savage, Breust Fremantle: Nine-point goals: Nil Goals: Anthony, Crowley, Bradley

BEST
Hawthorn: Stratton, Burgoyne, Rioli, Breust, Schneider, Savage, Lisle
Fremantle: Mzungu, Johnson, Crowley, Clarke, Johnson, Anthony

INJURIES
Hawthorn: Nil
Fremantle: Nil

Reports: Nil

Crowd: 25,776 at Patersons Stadium

The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL.