The Hawks were able to accelerate away late in the game after a dour first half, with 300-game hero Shane Crawford gathering 28 possessions and capping his milestone with the last goal of the match.
Luke Hodge was outstanding playing as a loose man in defence and racked up 31 disposals with Sam Mitchell working tirelessly for his 29 touches.
The Lions were well served by onball quartet Travis Johnstone (28 possessions), Luke Power (28), Simon Black (26) and Michael Rischitelli (26), and held the Hawks early, but could not find a reliable avenue to goal all day.
The last time these sides met back in round five it was the Hawks who prevailed in a high-scoring match that saw a total of 36 goals kicked. At half time in the round 19 encounter however, the teams had combined for a total of just four goals with the score reading 3.7 to 1.5 Hawthorn's way.
Those who didn't see the game could be forgiven for picturing torrential rain and a water-logged surface, but the weather was not at fault with the sun shining and the breeze only slight.
The barren first half had more to do with the Lions' desire to mirror Alastair Clarkson's game plan that demands a rolling zone between the 50m arcs, and dropping numbers back in front of the leading forwards.
As such Franklin and Jarryd Roughead down one end, and Jonathan Brown and Daniel Bradshaw at the other, spent most of the first half trying, without luck, to pull down a pack mark with three or four opponents in attendance.
But as the match wore on the Hawks, more accustomed to that style of play, got on top.
Franklin and Brown were both able to find space just once in the first term, but that's all they needed to boot their respective side's goals for the quarter with the Hawks up by one point at the first break.
The arm wrestle continued in a second term which looked destined to be goalless before Franklin found Cyril Rioli after a brilliant bouncing run down the wing. The youngster converted his set shot and when Franklin followed it up with his second soon after, the Hawks stretched their lead to 14 points at half time.
Those hoping for a tactical rethink by the coaches during the break were disappointed as minutes in the third quarter ticked by with much of the play mired in the midfield.
Cameron Stokes had seen little of the ball, but when he bobbed up to break the stalemate in the 17th minute it signaled the start of a run that saw Hawthorn break the game open at last.
Franklin snapped his third, and Rioli added his second after a brilliantly one-handed pack mark plucked from in front of Colm Begley. When Roughead bounced through his first, the Hawks led by 38.
Jared Brennan saved his side from going two quarters without scoring a goal when he converted a free kick after the siren, but the deficit was still 31 points at three-quarter time.
It would have taken something special for the Lions to mount a comeback from that far down and it wasn't to be as the Hawks powered away, kicking the last seven goals of the game, with Crawford mobbed by every Hawk on the field after his closer.
Hawthorn 1.3 3.7 7.11 16.14 (110)
Brisbane Lions 1.2 1.5 2.10 5.11 (41)
GOALS
Hawthorn: Franklin 6, Rioli 3, Stokes 2, Lewis 2, Roughead, Crawford, Dew.
Brisbane Lions: Bradshaw 2, Brown, Sherman, Brennan.
BEST
Hawthorn: Franklin, Hodge, Crawford, Rioli, Mitchell, Lewis, Ellis.
Brisbane Lions: Rischitelli, Power, Johnstone, Black, Brennan.
INJURIES
Hawthorn: None
Brisbane Lions: Charman (cut head), Drummond (quad).
Reports: Nil
Umpires: Meredith, McLaren, Chamberlain
Official crowd: 19,929 at Aurora Stadium
The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL.
