HAWTHORN has held out a determined Sydney Swans to win by just two points at the MCG on Sunday afternoon, 10.19 (79) to 11.11 (77).

But the win came at a price, with Campbell Brown suffering a knee injury and Lance Franklin in the umpires’ book once again.

Brown hobbled from the ground after injuring his knee in the third quarter and Franklin was booked for a high hit on Martin Mattner in the final term.

It is the third time in the past nine months that the star forward has been reported for a high hit, having served suspensions for incidents with Ben Cousins last season and Jason Akermanis in round three this season.

It was a scrappy encounter with plenty of early turnover - fittingly, the first goal of the match was a direct result of a turnover.

Rhan Hooper was dangerous for Hawthorn early as a small forward and Adam Goodes also plenty of it up forward for the Swans in the first half.

But both were examples of their sides’ poor kicking - Hooper finished with 1.3 and Goodes with 1.5.

In a repeat of last year’s game between these two sides at the MCG, Luke Hodge spent time across half-back on Goodes while being tagged himself.

But the Hodge v Goodes matchup didn’t last long as Hawks rookie Ben Stratton soon found himself with the job on the dual Brownlow medallist and he took the points in what was a crucial match-up.

It wasn’t a highlight-filled day for Lance Franklin but his work rate was impressive and with three goals he probably had the better of opponent Heath Grundy.

Dan Hannebery furthered his campaign for the NAB AFL Rising Star with 25 disposals and three goals including a shot from 70m out that bounced through for a major.

Gary Rohan played with plenty of grunt in just his fourth AFL game - he forced contests and wasn’t afraid to get in the faces of hardened opponents.

Former Cat Shane Mumford dominated in the ruck against Wayde Skipper and Brent Renouf, finishing with an amazing 42 hitouts, while Josh Kennedy put in a solid performance against his old side.

Hawthorn   3.6  4.12  7.13  10.19 (79)
Sydney   2.3       4.7     6.9    11.11 (77)

GOALS:
Hawthorn: Franklin 3, Rioli, Hooper, Hodge, Mitchell, Birchall, Petersen, Osborne
Sydney: Hannebery 3, White 3, Playfair 2, McVeigh, Jack, Goodes

BEST
Hawthorn: Lewis, Brown, Burgoyne, Ellis, Mitchell, Franklin
Sydney: Hannebery, Malceski, Mumford, Shaw, Jack

INJURIES
Hawthorn: Brown (knee)
Sydney: Nil

Reports:  Lance Franklin (Hawthorn - high contact on Marty Mattner)

Umpires: Vozzo, Margetts, Findlay

Official Crowd: 36,003

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