HAWTHORN coach Alastair Clarkson said today's win, as well as last week's victory over North Melbourne, were important markers of his team's progress, given they are two of the sides that have caused Hawthorn the most trouble in recent years.

"We're convinced as a footy club that we're heading in the right direction, we're starting to close the gap on those sides," he said.

“Adelaide has caused us enormous grief over the time that I’ve been at the footy club and … I think to get a win like that was full credit to 22 guys who were really wanting to play their roles well.

“[The Crows] play tremendously well through the middle of the ground, and their run and overlap is possibly the best in the competition.

“We just had to make sure that we manned up on their blokes really quickly to disallow them free guys through that part of the ground and over the course of the game it caused them to be a little bit more indecisive with the ball.

“We just had to make sure we forced them to rush their disposal and we caused them to have a lot of ineffective kicks, which was a real credit to our guys today.”

Clarkson said the 100-game milestones of Campbell Brown and Chance Bateman provided great inspiration.

"They're nearly the spirit of our footy club, those two guys, along with (Luke) Hodge and (Sam) Mitchell and those types of guys in our leadership group," Clarkson said.

"For the other 20 guys to rally like they did said an enormous amount about those two guys.

“They’ve been such important players for our footy club over a long period of time. They’re highly regarded by all the rest of our players. They’re in very good form, both of them. Bateman was terrific today, possibly best on ground, and Browny continues to play a really important role for us in the back half.”

Mitchell (calf) and Tim Boyle (hip) were late withdrawals from today's side, but both are expected back next round.

The Hawks were able to break the game open in the third quarter, their defensive pressure, hard running and precise kicking wearing down the Crows, who were coming off a gruelling win over Port Adelaide last round.

They kicked five of the first six goals in the third term to open up a 44-point lead.

Bateman was brilliant during that period, racking up a dozen touches for the quarter, most of them telling, opening with a clever left foot goal on the run, setting up Mark Williams for the next and making several bursting runs out of the centre square.

Williams finished with three goals in his first game back since round four last season, while former skipper Shane Crawford played his first game for the year after suspension.

Travis Tuck was the only casualty from the win, with the 20-year-old sustaining a knock to the knee in the second quarter that prevented him from taking part after half time. He will undergo scans early in the week to determine the extent of any damage.