After a hotly-contested start, the Hawks took the lead in the 15th minute and did not surrender it as they put on a polished display of hard-running football to prevail 18.10 (118) to 9.10 (64).
Hawthorn effectively decided the result with a devastating and prolonged assault that started midway through the first quarter and lasted until early in the third. In that period they kicked 13 goals to one to lead by 68 points.
One of the major storylines out of the clash was the courageous play of Luke Hodge, who appeared to suffer a serious rib injury late in the first term that was further aggravated early in the second, forcing him from the ground.
Despite television cameras catching the Hawk hard man spitting blood at one stage, he ran back onto the field five minutes later to a raucous ovation from the Hawthorn faithful and played out the match to finish with 24 touches.
The Hawks had winners all over the ground and were superbly led by skipper Sam Mitchell, who amassed 33 damaging possessions. Jordan Lewis (27), Brad Sewell (27) and Clinton Young (21) provided excellent support.
Stephen Gilham was a late inclusion at the expense of Tom Murphy and he spent most of his time shutting down St Kilda danger man Nick Riewoldt, who was a non-factor in the first half before kicking three goals when the game was beyond his side.
Lance Franklin was well covered by Max Hudghton and managed just the one goal on the night, but Mark Williams and Jarryd Roughead took up the slack with five and four goals respectively.
Brendon Goddard had 33 disposals for the Saints and Robert Harvey gathered 19 possessions in the last game of his illustrious career.
In a see-sawing opening the first five goals of the match came from free kicks before Young's booming left-footer on the run sailed through the middle from 50m to edge the Hawks out to a 13-point lead that they took into the first break.
The Saints had missed a couple of gilt-edged opportunities to be closer than that, but only managed two goals in the first quarter and Hawthorn soon went about making them pay.
The first three goals of the second added to the Hawks' lead, with a massive cheer for Hodge's return following Michael Osborne's goal 13 minutes in that extended the lead to 31 points.
A neat snap from Aaron Fiora gave Saints' fans hope, but it proved to be an all-too-brief respite from the onslaught. Four goals in succession – including a brilliant rover's effort from Roughead – saw Hawthorn lead it by 47 points at half time.
Franklin got the better of Hudghton for the first time a minute after the restart to boot his first goal from close range as the Hawks snuffed out any chance of a St Kilda revival with the first three majors of the second half.
Riewoldt booted all three of his goals in five minutes as the Saints enjoyed a brief period of ascendancy, but Hawthorn soon shut the game down to halt the run and take a 49-point lead into the final term.
Re-live the build-up to the big game.
Hawthorn 4.4 11.5 15.8 18.10 (118)
St Kilda 2.3 3.6 7.7 9.10 (64)
GOALS
Hawthorn: Williams 5, Roughead 4, Rioli 2, Young 2, Bateman, Brown, Crawford, Franklin, Osborne
St Kilda: Riewoldt 3, Fisher 2, Fiora, Milne, Montagna, Schneider
BEST
Hawthorn: Lewis, Mitchell, Williams, Sewell, Young, Hodge, Guerra, Birchall
St Kilda: Hudghton, Goddard, Fisher, Clarke, Hayes
INJURIES
Hawthorn: Hodge (ribs).
St Kilda: TBC
Reports: Nil
Umpires: Kennedy, Rosebury, McLaren
Official crowd: 77,002 at MCG
The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the club.
