Hawks hold firm over Crows for crucial away victory
Hawthorn keeps Adelaide out of eight with classy away win
HAWTHORN has bounced back from last week's blip against North Melbourne in style, the reigning premier showing its trademark class to see off a spirited Adelaide by 12 points at Adelaide Oval on Friday night.
The Hawks led at every change, and made their decisive move in the third quarter to propel them to a 15.14 (104) to 14.8 (92) victory that improved their record to 12-4 and returned them to the top of the ladder.
Hawthorn turned the screws in the third quarter, after Josh Jenkins threatened to break the game open for the home side with an eight-minute purple patch that produced three of his five goals for the night.
The Hawks booted three quick goals to reclaim the lead after Jenkins' blitz, and kept Adelaide out of its forward 50 for 10 minutes to take a telling 16-point lead into the final change.
Hawthorn then all but sealed the result when Luke Breust and Jonathon Ceglar added goals in the early stages of the final quarter, breaking Adelaide's resistance.
"We were really disappointed with the way we performed last week on a whole number of fronts," Clarkson said.
"It was a real arm-wrestle for the best part of two quarters … halfway through the third quarter we started to control the game.
"[Our] endeavour tonight was much, much better than it was the week before."
The Hawks had an even spread of contributors, Sam Mitchell (28 disposals) superb in the midfield and Jack Gunston prolific up forward for the second consecutive Friday night with four goals, his second coming from a spectacular mark.
Captain Luke Hodge (25 possessions) and Jordan Lewis (25 touches) were also telling contributors for the winners.
Sharpshooter Luke Breust equalled Tony Lockett's record for consecutive goals without a miss – 29 straight – but could have been robbed of a chance to shoot for the record after a bizarre incident nearing the end of the third quarter.
Breust was tip-toeing along the sideline and was a chance to snap at goal when umpire Ray Chamberlain halted play, mistakenly believing he'd heard the siren to end the term
Patrick Dangerfield (a career-best 41 possessions, including 27 contested) and Brad Crouch (40) were prominent for the Crows, as was Jenkins before he hurt his left ankle late in the third term and had limited impact thereafter.
James Podsiadly (two goals) was important, and midfielder Rory Sloane was busy.
Eddie Betts was quiet in his 200th game, managing just seven possessions and a goal in the second term.