Nick Stevens was the prime mover for his side with 35 possessions, while Marc Murphy (30 touches) and Andrew Carrazzo (28 disposals) were also prominent.
Tim Clarke led the Hawks with 23 possessions with Luke Hodge gathering 21 disposals and booting two goals.
There were few warning signs of things to come in the first term as the Blues held their own in the early exchanges. Eddie Betts and Brendan Fevola each spurned scoring opportunities after Hodge had opened Hawthorn’s account, but the floodgates opened when Jordan Lewis added his side’s second 15 minutes in.
The margin was 11 points when he converted from close range, but
An animated Stevens, the stand-in captain for the night, addressed the group before the coaching staff arrived on the ground with the Blues’ overuse of the ball and inability to move effectively out of defence surely on the agenda.
Marc Murphy missed a shot in traffic early in the second, but the Hawks soon went further ahead with Tim Boyle banging through another nine-pointer as the margin moved out to 72 points.
A change came over the complexion of the game soon after, however, with Fevola’s willingness to throw his body into the contest one of the contributing factors in a
Simon Wiggins and Shaun Griggs slammed through super goals as Stevens and Kade Simpson started to find the ball, but the Blues failed to capitalise on their period of ascendancy and still trailed by 52 points at half time.
The break came at the wrong time for
A Richard Hadley goal was followed by one to Fevola and when Cameron Cloke kicked truly after a 50-metre penalty made his 25-metre shot worth nine points, the margin had been whittled down to 34 points at the last change.
A pivotal moment occurred in the second minute of the final term with Campbell Brown reported for charging Matthew Kreuzer. After a brief push and shove, the resulting 50 m penalty gave the No.1 draft pick a shot from 20 m out that would have been worth nine points, but he pushed it to the right.
Hawthorn 2.6.3 3.7.8 4.7.10 4.9.13 (103)
GOALS
Hawthorn: Supergoals: Birchall, Franklin, Boyle, Lewis. Goals: Hodge 2, Lewis, Campbell, Rioli, Clarke, Boyle, Murphy, Brown.
BEST:
Hawthorn: Clarke, Hodge, Lewis, Young, Mitchell, Rioli, Osborne
INJURIES:
Hawthorn: Clarke (corked elbow)
Carlton: Hampson (bruised testicle), Jackson (corked thigh)
Reports: Kennedy (Hawthorn) reported by umpire Wenn for charging Murphy (Carlton) in the fourth term
Brown (Hawthorn) reported by umpire McBurney for charging Kreuzer (Carlton) in the fourth quarter
Kennedy (Hawthorn) reported by umpire Wenn for making forceful contact to Murphy (Carlton) in the fourth quarter
Franklin (Hawthorn) reported by umpire Wenn for wrestling Simpson (Carlton) in the second quarter
Simpson (Carlton) reported by umpire Wenn for wrestling Franklin (Hawthorn) in the second quarter
Umpires: Wenn, McBurney, Statham, Bowen
Official crowd: 20,940 at Telstra Dome
