HAWTHORN'S finals hopes have taken a further blow after a nine-goal opening term from the Western Bulldogs set-up an 88-point win at Docklands on Saturday night.
The Hawks were stunned as the Bulldogs surged to a 58-point lead at the first change, slipping to the greatest quarter-time deficit in their history, and remained goalless at half time for the first time since 1979.
The 19.19 (133) to 6.9 (45) result has the Hawks sitting outside the eight, with six wins from 14 matches and a game behind Essendon (seventh) and Port Adelaide (eighth).
However, Jordan Lewis had an excellent second half, finishing with 23 possessions and three goals, while Brad Sewell also worked hard for the Hawks – gathering 29 possessions, including four clearances.
After spending some time in the midfield during the second quarter, Luke Hodge was able to stabilise the Hawks across half-back in the second half and collected 22 possessions.
While the Hawks struggled to find winners, the Bulldogs were red-hot from the opening bounce.
Ryan Griffen, Adam Cooney and Matthew Boyd were excellent in the midfield, while Brian Lake and Dale Morris kept the Lance Franklin-Jarryd Roughead combination to just eight kicks and one goal.
The stats told the story of the first quarter.
The Dogs had 136 possessions to the Hawks' 57, while their relentless pressure saw the tackle count read a lopsided 19 to eight.
But the greatest damage was done in the clearances, with Daniel Cross, Sam Reid, Cooney and Boyd leading the premiers 15 to six.
In the few times the Hawks had the ball in their hands, they struggled to find a target forward.
Franklin – who had to constantly deal with two or three opponents – was blanketed by Lake and had no possessions in the term. Roughead also had a quarter to forget, restricted to just one touch by Morris.
After the Bulldogs led by 84 points at half time, Hawthorn registered its first goal at the fifth minute of the third quarter. Roughead took the Hawks' first mark inside 50 from a Sewell centre clearance.
As the Bulldogs' intensity dropped off, the Hawks were able to find some space through the midfield. They made the most of it – outscoring their opponents in the term, 4.2 to 2.4, to reduce the deficit to 74 points.
However, the Hawks could not keep up with the Bulldogs in the final quarter, as two goals to Josh Hill stretched the margin out to 88.
One of few positives for the Hawks was the successful return of premiership defender Stephen Gilham.
Gilham spent time on Scott Welsh and Will Minson and will benefit from his first outing since round three.
The Hawks will look to end their three-game losing streak at Aurora Stadium next Sunday when they take on North Melbourne.
Western Bulldogs 9.6 13.10 15.14 19.19 (133)
Hawthorn 0.2 0.4 4.6 6.9 (45)
GOALS
Western Bulldogs: Johnson 3, Welsh 3, Higgins 3, Akermanis 2, Hill 2, Boyd 2, Gilbee, Hahn, Griffen, Minson
Hawthorn: Lewis 3, Roughead 2, Ladson
BEST
Western Bulldogs: Lake, Hargrave, Cooney, Morris, Higgins, Griffen
Hawthorn: Lewis, Sewell, Mitchell, Hodge, Bateman, Ellis
INJURIES
Western Bulldogs: Nil
Hawthorn: Nil
Reports: Nil
Umpires: McBurney, Stevic, Grun
Official crowd: 36,827 at Docklands
The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the club.
