HAWTHORN’S premiership hopes have been crushedafter a determined Kangaroos outfit outclassed the side by 33 points in thesecond semi-final at the MCG on Saturday night.

The Kangaroos won the often untidyencounter 14.9 (93) to 8.12 (60) in front of a crowd of 74,981, after leadingall night and finishing the match off with a five goals to two last term.

In similar fashion to last Saturday'sthrilling three-point come-from-behind win over Adelaide, the Hawks rallieddeep into the game and looked capable of staging another upset, but this time,the deficit was just too big – and the opposition too strong – to put in arepeat performance.

The Roos will now face Port Adelaide innext Saturday's preliminary final, with the winner to progress through to theGrand Final to meet the winner of Friday night's Geelong-Collingwood clash.

While retiring Kangaroos' hard man GlennArcher has been given at least one more opportunity to run out with his side,the curtain has officially come down on the career of Hawks' skipper RichieVandenberg.

After a devastating performance on AndrewMcLeod last weekend, Vandenberg was faced with shutting down Daniel Wells, andstruggled to be as influential.

He ended his final game with ninepossessions, and after thanking the club's supporters for their years ofsupport, was given a guard of honour by the Roos as he left the field.

In an explosive second half, as the Hawksgot within two points early on after trailing by as much as 22, veteran ShaneCrawford was reported for striking Daniel Harris, and both sides made repeatedskill errors as the pressure of occasion took hold.

The Hawks faced a 17-point deficit atthree-quarter time, and as they stared down the barrel of elimination from thefinals race, came out firing in the fourth and snared the first goal throughLance “Buddy” Franklin.

But the Roos – determined to atone for lastweekend's 106-point smashing by Geelong– ran out the game stronger, and dominated the final stanza to hold the biggestlead of the game at the final siren.

Brad Sewell was the Hawks' most effectiveplayer with 29 possessions, while Jordan Lewis (31) and Brent Guerra (24) werealso busy. Robert Campbell handled himself admirably when pitted against thetalented Hamish McIntosh, and a sprayed shot in the final term aside, was oneof the Hawks' best.

But the side was simply lacking thematch-winning contributions it received from Franklin, Luke Hodge and JarrydRoughead last weekend, and struggled on the enormous semi-final stage against aside intent on restoring its pride.

After the form their tall forwards showedlast week against the Crows, the Hawks would have entered the match with greatconfidence in the abilities of Franklin and Roughead.

But opposed to Josh Gibson and MichaelFirrito respectively, the talented duo was kept to a minimal impact in thefirst term, with Roughead snaring just the one goal from his two possessions andFranklin heldcompletely statless.

Crawford looked intent on backing up hisdynamic elimination final early on with nine touches in the first term, whileLewis also found plenty of the ball and Sewell picked up seven disposals whileopposed to Brent Harvey.

Without the tall timber up forward firing, Hawthornbattled in the opening stages. And with the Roos getting on top in theclearances throughout the first half, the Hawks found themselves eight pointsdown at both the first and long break.

The Roos gave themselves some breathingspace in the third after the Hawks became plagued by the kicking yips. Two late-termmajors to Aaron Edwards and Harvey left the Hawks with a 17-point difference toreel in with a quarter to go.

Franklin nailed the first goal of the term, which had Hawks’ supporters ontheir feet and envisioning a repeat of last Saturday. But the hard running waythe win over the Crows was achieved came back to haunt the Hawks, and they ranout of legs when the Roos – in particular Harvey– shifted up a gear.

KANGAROOS: 3.3, 5.5, 9.7, 14.9 (93)
HAWTHORN: 2.1, 4.3,6.8, 8.12 (60)

Goals: Kangaroos:Edwards 4, Harvey4, Swallow, Petrie, McIntosh, McMahon, Wells, Grant. Hawthorn: Franklin 3, Roughead,Boyle, Bateman, Guerra, Lewis.

Best: Kangaroos: Harvey, Smith, McIntosh,Harris, Wells, Rawlings, Simpson, Firrito, Gibson. Hawthorn: Sewell, Lewis,Campbell, Guerra, Brown, Ladson.

Injuries: Nil.

Reports: S Crawford(Hawthorn) reported by field umpire M Vozzo for allegedly striking D Harris(Kangaroos) in the third quarter).

Umpires: Vozzo, Rosebury, McLaren

Official crowd: 74,981 at the MCG