Watch the Top 5 Fans' highlights from the win.

Western Bulldogs 3.2 5.4 5.5 6.8 (44)
Hawthorn 4.3 8.5 14.10 17.14 (116)

Best: Western Bulldogs - Boyd, Cross, Lake, Higgins, Picken, Murphy.
Hawthorn - Mitchell, Gibson, Birchall, Whitecross, Shiels, Gunston, Rioli.

Crowd: 24,754 at Etihad Stadium

A ruthless Hawthorn dismantled the Bulldogs at Etihad Stadium on Sunday, in a performance that propelled the Hawks into fourth position on the AFL ladder.

Without spearhead Lance Franklin, the Hawks struggled in the opening term to find a key target up forward, despite recruit Jack Gunston booting two first quarter goals. While winning the football wasn’t an issue for the Hawks, spotting up a target going forward was.

The Bulldogs had no such difficulty, with the returning Tom Williams providing a genuine target up forward, while Tory Dickson also proved a focal point.

Despite the struggles up forward, the Hawks still managed to take a 12-point lead into the first break, on the back of the work of Brendan Whitecross and Sam Mitchell who were arguably the two best Hawks on the ground in the first half.

Better efficiency going forward was established by the Hawks in the second term, as Luke Breust, Jordan Lewis and Cyril Rioli provided some much needed flair up forward.

It was a tight opening half, with the Bulldogs applying great tackling pressure on the Hawks, forcing turnovers in the middle. The Hawks defence, however, was outstanding in restricting the Bulldogs’ ability to find lead-up targets as they had done in the opening quarter.

Josh Gibson and Ben Stratton patrolled the defence and thwarted a number of Bulldogs attacks not only by beating their direct opponents, but also by zoning off and helping out a teammate.

Gibson and Stratton continued their good form in defence in the second half, combing with Stephen Gilham, Shaun Burgoyne and Matt Suckling to practically build a brick wall at the Hawks defensive 50.

The Bulldogs could manage just nine marks inside their forward 50, compared to the Hawks’ 15 which proved the difference. The Hawks were at their stingy best, and allowed the Bulldogs just six goals from 14 scoring shots for the match. Over eight quarters of football, the Hawks have incredibly allowed their opposition a combined 10 goals.

It seems that the Hawthorn defence, which for the first time since 2008 has enjoyed a relatively injury-free season to gel and play consecutive matches together over the course of the season.

The defensive group has allowed just 75 points to the opposition in its last two matches to become the second-best defensive unit in the league. Over 15 matches, the Hawks have conceded just 1121 points. That is 70 points more than top-placed Sydney.

The Hawks dominated the Bulldogs in the middle of the ground, winning a whopping 46 clearances to 28. Jarryd Roughead, Liam Shiels, Lewis and Mitchell all grabbed six clearances, while Brad Sewell, David Hale and Whitecross all grabbed four. It was a domination from the Hawthorn midfield group, that enabled the forwards to put the Bulldogs’ defence under a mountain of pressure.

Credit too, must be given to Shiels who blanketed Bulldogs’ star Ryan Griffen who failed to have an impact on the match despite winning 22 possessions. Shiels restricted Griffen’s ability to use his pace, by shutting down his ability to find the football on the wings of Etihad Stadium.

The Hawks dominated possession in the third term and used the ball well going forward to boot six goals to zero in the quarter. That opened up an insurmountable lead of 59 points heading into the final change.

The Hawks once again combined the ability to win the ball the ball in close with the system in place to give teammates space to work in throughout the day. The Hawks won 39 more contested possession (155-116) and 14 more uncontested possessions (243-229). The dominance at the stoppages also allowed the Hawks to give their forwards endless supply, through 62 inside 50s, while restricting the Bulldogs to just 38.

The convincing win sets up a blockbuster Saturday afternoon clash with Collingwood at the MCG on Saturday.

What Alastair Clarkson said: “The pressure we were able to apply to the Western Bulldogs was first class and that probably compounded in the third quarter.

“We were able to really put some scoreboard pressure on them in the third quarter and start to control the game with the way we like to play.

“We were pleased that we were able to restrict them to only six goals.”