A dominant midfield led by Sam Mitchell and Luke Hodge and atrio of strong marking forwards in Tim Boyle, Jarryd Roughead and Trent Croadpowered Hawthorn to a runaway 27.18 (180) to 12.8 (80) win over Carlton atTelstra Dome.

Hawthorn looked to be a superbly-balanced unit in terms ofage, strength and speed. They recorded their highest ever score against theBlues, and the winning margin of 100 points was also a record for a Hawk sideover Carlton.

In keeping with the record-breaking theme, the game was played before 53,459 people, a record for the venue.

Veterans Shane Crawford and Joel Smith relished the freedomof having the workload shared by their fellow midfielders and took fulladvantage of the latitude given to them by Carlton.

As expected, Lance Franklin was a late withdrawal from theHawthorn side with a calf injury, and was replaced by Xavier Ellis.

Hawthorn was troubled by Carlton’s two key forwards in the openingminutes with Jarrod Waite and Brendan Fevola kicking the opening goals.

Despite those early indications it was the Hawk tall timberin attack which proved the most potent force in the opening half-hour.

Tim Boyle and Jarryd Roughead proved a handful for the Carlton defence.Roughead, very much the confidence player, found the centre with his first shotand the in-form Boyle plucked six marks in the first half-hour, bagging twogoals.

Hawthorn gathered momentum as the first quarter progressedand went to quarter-time with a 14-point lead after Joel Smith’s late goal. Ithad been set up by Brad Sewell, who recovered the ball superbly after initiallyflumming a handpass.

Both coaches had clearly instructed their charges to tightenup the game and neither side could eke out a goal early in the second quarter.But when Tim Boyle kicked his third from a mark it triggered a sustained periodof control for the Hawks.

Hawthorn looked stronger and more assertive around the packsas Mitchell, Shane Crawford, Luke Hodge and Grant Birchall took charge. TrentCroad made his presence felt in attack with two goals and everything was goingthe Hawks’ way when a miscued shot from Crawford landed in Croad’s hands just15 metres from goal.

Carltonwas too easily brushed aside and was clearly on the back foot when Denis Paganshifted Waite to defence to try and stem the flow.

It made little difference as Hawthorn kept steaming along.Robert Campbell perfectly palmed the ball to the running Jordan Lewis and aminute later Xavier Ellis swooped in for another – the Hawks' ninth unansweredgoal.

Carltonclawed back a small part of the leeway with two goals just before half-time,but that did not cloak the fact that they had been decimated in midfield.Hawthorn’s 43-point lead looked irretrievable.

The Hawks showed no signs of relenting in the third quarter.Hodge opened with a goal and the normally wayward Roughead added his fourth andfifth with unerring precision.

Hawthorn had numbers everywhere and were queuing up forshots at goal as Smith, in the midst of a 10-possession quarter, bombed a long shot from 50 metres that foundthe target.

By the start of the final term Carlton was bereft of confidence and LukeHodge was able to barrel in to goal without anyone even standing the mark.Moments later Roughead mowed down the pacy Marc Murphy in a tackle.

By the closing stages Hawthorn had reduced Carlton to a state of despair. Acting captainLuke Hodge took his night’s goal tally to four in his 100^th gamethen Rick Ladson snapped a marvellous goal to send the crowd into raptures.

Carlton’swoes were summed up by Matthew Lappin’s floated kick across goal that landed inCroad’s hands and brought up the goal to extend the margin to an even 100points.

It was truly Hawthorn’s night in every way and was capped by the awarding of the David Parkin Medal for best player on the ground to Brad Sewell.

HAWTHORN    6.4    13.6    18.13    27.18(180)

CARLTON    4.2    6.5    9.6    12.8 (80)

GOALS - Hawthorn: J Roughead 5, L Hodge 4, T Boyle3, R Ladson 3, T Croad 3, J Smith 2, R Campbell 2, M Osborne, S Crawford, J Lewis, XEllis, G Birchall. Carlton: B Fevola 3, B Fisher 2, J Waite, M Murphy, S Wiggins, AWalker, L Whitnall, K Simpson, A Koutoufides.

BEST - Hawthorn: B Sewell, L Hodge, J Smith, SMitchell, J Roughead, R Campbell, R Ladson, S Crawford. Carlton: A Carrazzo, M Murphy,K Simpson, H Scotland.

CROWD: 53,459 at TelstraDome.

UMPIRES: M Avon S McBurney KNicholls.

INJURIES - Hawthorn: L Franklin (calf) replaced in the selected side by X Ellis.Carlton: C Ackland (broken nose).