IT WAS a tale of two distinctly different halves in Launceston on Sunday afternoon as the Sydney Swans maintained their unbeaten start to the 2012 season with a 37-point victory over a faltering Hawthorn.

Trailing by 20-points at the main break, the Swans had been on the end of a five-goal barrage from Hawks' tall Jarryd Roughead, but went on to totally dominate the contest in the second half and piled on 11 goals to two to run away comfortable winners.

Hawks coach Alastair Clarkson was left scratching his head post-match, wondering just how his side had gone from dominating the early stages to being powerless to stop the Swans as they racked up the majors.

"It's difficult when you look at the outcome of the game to work out whether it was us or the opponent, in a sense," he said.

"I have come out of this game thinking Sydney are an outstanding football side.

"We tried different things in the third and fourth quarters but they continued to respond to the challenge amazingly well."

Clarkson said he could do nothing but give full credit to the Swans.

"I can't do anything except put full credit on the Sydney side. They smashed us at the clearances, smashed us in the hunt, they used the ball really well and we just couldn't get our hands on the footy."

"I think they're going to be a really, really hard side to beat all year."

Clarkson also hit back at suggestions his side was under-performing given its pre-season 'flag favourite' tag.

"You (media) guys are the ones that create the speculation about who are the best sides in the competition, not us," he said.

"We think we're a better side than two wins and three losses for this time of the year, but we know there's some outstanding sides out there and every year you have to work really hard to give yourself a chance.

"All we know at this point in time is we have a critical game against St Kilda next week and we won't be looking any further than that. We need to win that game to get back on an even ledger and build the season from there."

Hawthorn faces the Saints at the MCG on Saturday night while the Swans play host to Adelaide under lights at their SCG fortress.

Given their stellar start to the year and the vagaries of form and the AFL fixture, the Swans may be fancied to reach their round 12 bye with an 11-0 record - a prospect that Clarkson can only dream of as he looks to get his side's season back on track.