It was a Hawthorn demolition of the Bulldogs the last time the two teams faced off in Round 23 last season.
Led by skipper Luke Hodge who was best on ground with 30 disposals, while Brad Sewell, Paul Puopolo and Lance Franklin were integral to the Hawks ability to extend their winning streak to seven matches.
Last time we met: Hawthorn v Western Bulldogs, Round 23, 2011
Hawthorn 3.3 7.8 11.14 16.17 (113)
Western Bulldogs 2.2 6.4 7.5 10.7 (67)
Best: Hawthorn - Hodge, Puopolo, Sewell, Birchall, Burgoyne, Franklin, Bailey.
Western Bulldogs - Murphy, Boyd, Hall, Jones, Griffen, Higgins, Markovic.
Crowd: 42, 198 at the MCG
What the coaches said:
Hawthorn's Alastair Clarkson
"A big part of what you're focusing on is your patterns of play and I thought we were able to control the ball really well today.
"We won clearances and won contested possessions, but just our use of the footy wasn't as good as we liked and we didn’t convert our chances."
Western Bulldogs' Paul Williams
"You learn a lot. We've got some work to do though. We have got some work to do and that's what a summer of football is going to give you.
"We're definitely going to focus on having a real defensive style as a whole group.
"That's something that we just don't value yet. We don't value helping our mates enough."
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Check out this week's match preview, Looking ahead to Western Bulldogs ahead of Sunday's match.
