Hawks thrash Lions

HAWTHORN has given itself a big boost in confidence and percentage for the run towards September with a 75-point demolition of the Brisbane Lions at Aurora Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

The Hawks led from the front after racing to a six-goal quarter time lead and were never threatened by an insipid Lions outfit, winning 17.16 (118) to 7.1 (43).

Chief among the Hawks’ destroyers in the opening exchanges was Jordan Lewis, the utility making the most of his role in the forward line by leading Travis Johnstone a merry dance on his way to three first-quarter majors.

He and Jarryd Roughead finished with four apiece for the afternoon.

Roughead, the lone tall in Hawthorn’s forward line, was proving a handful early despite missing his regular partner in crime Lance Franklin.

He opened the scoring with an opportunist goal and then rounded out the first quarter with a checkside from deep in the left forward pocket to bring the crowd to its feet and the Lions to their knees.

Hawthorn had dominated across the park, repeatedly cutting the Lions down at half-forward and moving the ball long inside its own 50m arc.

The 17-2 discrepancy in forward entries at quarter time must have been a troubling statistic for Lions’ coach Michael Voss, and the trend continued throughout the match, with the visitors smashed on forward entries 64-25 by the final siren.

The Lions threatened to roar back into contention during the opening minutes of the second term, booting the first two goals through Jonathan Brown and Amon Buchanan.

Brown then took a strong mark for his second goal before Hawks fans started to breathe more easily when goals to Xavier Ellis and the impressive Clint Young eased them out to a 36-point half-time lead.

With Shaun Burgoyne helping himself to a classy 19 first-half touches and Luke Hodge, Sam Mitchell and Brad Sewell picking up 18 disposals apiece, the Hawks’ inside grunt was really troubling the Lions, who were clearly missing champion midfielder Simon Black at the stoppages.

Luke Power and Jared Brennan worked hard to keep their side moving forward, but with Tom Rockliff the only other Lion with double-figure disposals it was proving an uphill battle.

The third quarter was a clear illustration of the Hawks’ dominance over the ailing Lions. Another seven goals had the lead out to 72 points at three-quarter time - and it could have been worse given a couple of poor misses from the dominant Hawthorn outfit.

Young certainly didn’t have any issues finding the goals, booting his second from well inside the centre square and his third from 60m out, hard against the boundary line. Wayde Skipper’s long-range effort from 50m in the same pocket was another for the growing Hawks’ highlight reel.

With the contest effectively over, the only interest in the last term was the matter of how much the Hawks would win by.

Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson said the turnaround was in part due to the return to form and fitness of several key players, but also believed his side’s focus and aggression had improved markedly since last season.

“There’s probably a greater focus on our tackling pressure and just being really strong and hard at the footy and that’s when we believe we play our best footy,” he said. “We lost our way a little bit over the last 12 months in that regard."

Lions coach Michael Voss said his team was “beaten up on the inside. You know, quick hands, freeing hands in the tackle. They certainly found their targets and when we were in the same situations we coughed it up and probably gave it back to them."

Brown and Roughead traded goals as the game petered out, the Lions happy to break even for the quarter and the Hawks perhaps keeping one eye on their big match against St Kilda at the MCG on Friday night.

Hawthorn       7.3  9.6   16.12   17.16  (118)
Brisbane Lions        1.0   4.0   6.0   7.1  (43)

GOALS
Hawthorn: Roughead 4, Lewis 4, Osborne, Ellis, Young 3, Brown, Rioli, Skipper, Peterson
Brisbane Lions: Brown 3, Power, Buchanan, Staker, Fevola

BEST
Hawthorn: Burgoyne, Hodge, Lewis, Mitchell, Young, Sewell
Brisbane Lions: Leuenberger, Power, Brennan, Brown, Staker

INJURIES
Hawthorn: TBA
Brisbane Lions: TBA

Official attendance: 16,690 at Aurora Stadium

The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the AFL or its clubs