HAWTHORN'S top four aspirations suffered a setback at TelstraDome when it went down to St Kilda 14.11 (95) to 11.12 (78) in a match that isdestined to be filed in the AFL's "not to be watched again" annals.

All night the Hawks were thwarted by skill errors, adysfunctional forward line and a midfield that for brief periods in the gamewas incredibly unaccountable.

Two bursts of three goals by the Saints, one in the secondterm and another early in the last, killed the Hawks' every attempt to stay intouch as both sides adopted flooding tactics to frustrate the opposition.

Lance Franklin did all he could with five goals, but threeof those came in the final 13 minutes after the Saints broke out to a six-goallead. At one stage he had 2.5 before his late burst.

Early on goals were at a premium. After three early missesFranklin got the Hawks on the scoreboard with a brilliant long range shot fromthe boundary to counter an early major by Saint spearhead Fraser Gehrig.

With both sides dropping players behind the ball, freakishgoals appeared the only avenue either side had to goal in a game that wasplayed almost exclusively between the arcs.

While Hawk ball winners Sam Mitchell, Shane Crawford, LukeHodge and Brad Sewell were getting plenty of the ball, their possessions weremore often than not inconsequential as the Saints dropped Sam Fisher and JasonBlake behind the footy.

For the Hawks it was Stephen Gilham and Grant Birchallplaying the loose man role.

By quarter time the Hawthorn had two goals on the board andtrailed by five points in a match that had more than a touch of the infamousRound 8 MCG meeting between the two sides.

Sewell was obviously keen to break the mould when kicked along running goal 30 seconds into the second term to hand his side the lead.

Just when it looked like the game would break open the armwrestle returned.

As the forearms went back and forth, the Saints scrounged two goals beforeBen Dixon intercepted a Max Hudghton pass to goal to again draw the Hawkswithin a goal.

It was then the game opened up.

Unfortunately for Hawthorn it was St Kilda doing theopening.

Three goals in five minutes, including a ripper to NickRiewoldt, who was locked in a absorbing battle with Campbell Brown, had theHawks on the back foot.

In the blink of an eye the margin was four goals in a gamein which the Hawks had only kicked the same number.

A late goal to ruckman Simon Taylor after a strong contestedmark at the top of the square cut the margin to 16 points to give the side someimpetus heading to the main break.

The impetus was short-lived when Luke Ball opened the secondhalf scoring three minutes in to again leave the Hawks at arm's length.

It was a theme that would play out for the remainder of thenight.

Each time the Hawks looked like threatening, the Saints hadthe answers.

Despite back-to-back goals to Franklin and Ben McGlynn midway through thethird term to bring the side within eight points, the Saints continued to holdfirm.

By three-quarter time the margin was 19 points with Ball,Lenny Hayes, Leigh Montagan and Nick Dal Santo doing all the damage.

Needing a spark, and needing it quickly, Hawthorn couldn'tfind it.

Despite the best efforts of Hodge, McGlynn, Sewell and JoelSmith, the Hawks simply couldn't buy a goal.

The harder they tried the more unlikely it looked.

In the end it was left to Riewoldt to break the Hawks' backafter he was the recipient of a holding the ball free kick against Hodge togoal at the 11-minute mark.

Riewoldt's goal, his third for the night, pushed the marginto 28 points and from there the Hawks never threatened.

Franklin, who never stopped trying against Jason Gram, kickedthree in the final term to make it five for the night, but it wasn't enough toget his side over the line.

His efforts were commendable on a night when he wasgenerally well held by Gram.

So, too, were those of Hodge (29 possessions), Sewell (19),Birchall (25), Young (25) Trent Croad, who did a solid job quelling FraserGehrig, but in the end it was left to too few to do too much.

Without multiple forward options the Saints held the aces,and the answers, to claim a hard-earned four points.

ST KILDA      3.2  8.4  12.7 14.11 (95)

HAWTHORN   2.3  5.8  8.10  11.12 (78)

GOALS - St Kilda:L Ball 3, N Riewoldt 3, S Milne 2, L Hayes, FGehrig, L Montagna, J Koschitzke, N Dal Santo, A Fiora. Hawthorn: L Franklin 5, B Dixon 2, B Sewell, S Taylor,B McGlynn, X Ellis.

BEST - St Kilda: LBall, N Riewoldt, L Montagna, N Dal Santo, L Hayes, J Blake. Hawthorn: L Hodge, L Franklin, B Sewell, C Young, J Smith.

Umpires: HKennedy, D Sully, M Head.

Official crowd:37,847.

INJURIES - St Kilda:S Birss (eye). Hawthorn: M Thorp (soreness) replaced in selected side by M Little,X Ellis (hip).

Reports: Nil.