A RELIEVED Alastair Clarkson was pleased his Hawthorn side was able to score a come-from-behind victory over North Melbourne at Launceston’s Aurora Stadium on Sunday.

Behind for much of a match played in part in a torrential downpour, the reigning premier only moved into the lead late in the final term and managed to hold out a tenacious Kangaroos outfit to win by nine points.

“It was a tough grind and it was always going to be a war of attrition in the end and that’s the way it panned out,” Clarkson said post-match.

“We straightened ourselves up a little bit in the last part of the game and went a bit more direct than in the first half.

“That bought some of our key forwards into the game and gave us a better chance to score.”

Hawks spearhead, Lance Franklin, was instrumental in securing the victory, booting all of his four goals in the final quarter to bury the Kangaroos.

Clarkson was thrilled with Franklin’s goals, alongside the brace kicked by Luke Hodge whose class told with two polished second-half finishes.

“We’ve probably been unable to play Hodgey anywhere else but back six for the bulk of the season,” he said.

“Last year before we moved him into the back six he was a potent goal kicker for us and he’s kicked another two today.
 
“Those two goals in particular were against the run of play a little bit and gave us some momentum.”

With another crunch match against the in-form Collingwood next Saturday evening, Clarkson was happy with the morale boost that his side took from this tough win.

“It was a real great, gutsy come-from-behind victory that will hopefully pick up the spirits a little bit of the players around the club and hopefully we can move forward to the Magpies next week.

“All we really want to do is look forward. We had a real spirited effort from our troops in the last quarter today and we’ve got Collingwood next week and we don’t look any further than that.”