Australian Football

Match Report

If there was any residual doubt about Hawthorn being a genuine contender for the 2013 premiership, the Hawks surely eliminated that at the MCG on Saturday with a comprehensive victory over reigning premier Sydney. Alastair Clarkson's team jumped away to an early lead and were never seriously challenged by the Swans in front of nearly 55,000 fans.

Hawthorn has now completed a tough first stanza of the 2013, in which it played all seven of the other finalists from 2012, and passed the test with flying colours. They won six of the seven games, losing only to Geelong, narrowly, in the opening round of the year.

If the Hawks had any concern leading into this match, it would have been the fact that Lance Franklin had gone two weeks without a goal. But that concern was brushed aside almost immediately, with "Buddy" kicking two of the first three goals of the match in the first eight minutes. The other was kicked by teammate Jack Gunston, and when Max Bailey kicked his first at the 13-minute mark, Hawthorn was already 22 points to the good. Luke Breust gave the Hawks their fifth as the clock ticked into time-on, and only a late goal from Mike Pyke prevented the opening term from being a complete disaster for the Swans.

The Hawks continued on their merry way at the start of the second quarter, two goals to Jordan Roughead opening up a 35-point lead for the brown and gold. A long goal from Josh Kennedy momentarily halted the Hawks' charge at the three-minute mark but two minutes later Franklin kicked his third and the margin was again six goals. Ryan O'Keefe and Ben McGlynn turned the tide with goals at the 11- and 14-minute marks, but Hawthorn dominated the last part of the first half with Gunston kicking another two goals and Roughead getting his third and the lead at the long break was a massive 40 points.

Hawthorn showed no signs of relaxing when the second half began and after Luke Breust just missed a set shot, captain Luke Hodge kicked his first to give the Hawks a 47-point lead. The remainder of the third term was relatively tight, with Sydney goals to McGlynn, Kennedy and Luke Parker punctuated by two David Hale goals for Hawthorn and the margin at the final change was 41 points.

Play opened up in the final term and the Swans did peg the margin back to 25 points at one stage but Michael Osborne and Shaun Burgoyne closed out the match to give Hawthorn an impressive 37-point win.

Hawthorn's best included captain Luke Hodge (32 disposals and a goal), Josh Gibson (27 touches) and Jordan Roughead (27 disposals and four goals), while Sydney were well served by Josh Kennedy (two goals, 30 disposals) and Adam Goodes (26 possessions and a goal).

The Hawks head to Launceston next Saturday where they'll take on the winless GWS, while Sydney will return home to face Fremantle. The Swans and Dockers have both won five of seven matches so far this year.

GOALS
Hawthorn: Roughead 4; Franklin, Gunston 3; Hale 3, Bailey, Breust, Hodge, Osborne, Burgoyne
Sydney: Kennedy 2, McGlynn 2, O'Keefe 2, Pyke, Parker, Lamb, Bolton, White, Goodes

BEST - AFL.COM.AU
Hawthorn: Hodge, Gibson, Roughead, Birchall, Puopolo, Gunston, Mitchell, Lake
Sydney: Kennedy, Goodes, Jetta, Parker, McGlynn

BEST - THE AGE
Hawthorn: Hodge, Bruest, Gibson, Birchall, Lake, Mitchell
Sydney: Kennedy, McGlynn, Goodes, Pyke, McVeigh, Jack

COACHES' COMMENTS
Alastair Clarkson (Haw): Full credit to our players. We had a really tough summer, preparing knowing full well that we couldn't ease our way into the season at all [playing 2012 finalists in the first seven rounds], so we've been pleased with the contribution that our players have made. It puts us in a good position at this point in time but we know that we've still got a lot of hard work to go.

John Longmire (Syd): We kicked one goal four in the first quarter - it certainly didn't help. To let a team like Hawthorn get away he way they did put us behind the eight-ball a bit. I thought our ball use in general wasn't great compared to theirs and we didn't put enough pressure on when we needed to. When it was our turn [with the ball], we didn't use it as well as we should have, particularly when we were licking it into our forward line.

INJURIES
Hawthorn: Guerra (knee) replaced in selected side by Bailey
Sydney: Mumford (groin) replaced in selected side by White

SUBSTITUTES
Hawthorn: Jonathan Simpkin replaced Bradley Hill in the last quarter
Sydney: Jed Lamb replaced Marty Mattner at three-quarter time

UMPIRES: Dalgleish, Nicholls, Meredith