THIRTY one goals and 15 individual goalkickers represented a great afternoon for Hawthorn on Saturday in its 165-point demolition of Port Adelaide, but the two people who do more than any to drag Hawthorn supporters through the gates provided the bulk of the entertainment.

Lance Franklin finished the day with eight straight goals, equal to his personal best against any team not called Essendon. Cyril Rioli finished the day with six, his personal best against any team in the AFL.

Hawthorn-watchers have long argued that side would be nigh on impossible to beat should the freakishly-talented pair choose to turn it on at the same time.

Truth be told, had both been kept scoreless on Saturday, the Hawks still would have won in a canter, so poor were the Power. But with the finals now just three weeks away, the performance of Rioli and Franklin against Port Adelaide has left Hawthorn fans giddy with anticipation about what September might bring.

"Cyril was pretty special today," said Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson with just a touch of understatement.

Rioli started in the midfield at the opening bounce, but was soon moved to the forward lone because, as the coach explained: "We didn’t think they had anyone who could play on him in the back half."

Clarkson got it right. Rioli had four goals to his name in the opening term, two from free kicks and two from marks. A big issue for the Hawks all season has been his hamstrings and the club is in the midst of overhauling the way he runs in order to take the strain of those hamstrings.

But they didn’t bother him with his first goal, a set shot from 50 metres that sailed through nearly post-high. It was clear from then that Rioli was 'on' and so it proved.

Goal number five came in the second term - and the buzz grew around the MCG in anticipation of him getting his sixth.

It took its time in coming, but was worth the wait. Twelve and a half minutes in to the final term, the ball was on the boundary line in Hawthorn’s left forward pocket when Rioli laid a tackle, gathered the ball, accelerated out of the pack and kicked the goal (on the wrong side for a left-footer). Absolutely special, as the coach said.

Franklin’s day was remarkable for its return of eight straight goals. The pedantic among the 27,532 at the game will recall there was one shot he kicked on the full, but otherwise, he was perfect. The highlight came in the second term when after being bustled out of a marking contest and landing heavily, he returned to the contest, intercepted a Port handball and snapped truly from the pocket about 40 metres out from goal.

More importantly, he clunked three strong, contested marks, the one area of his game that has yet to reach stellar heights. And granted, while it was only Port Adelaide, his opponent, Alipate Carlisle is one player who has given him trouble in the past.

His eight goals took him to 62 goals for the year and the weekend should end with him being a clearcut favourite to claim his second Coleman Medal.