In a one-side contest, the final score read – Hawthorn 21.12 (138) d West Coast 8.10 (58)
Right from the very start Hawthorn dominated the game, although at times they did lairise while in possession. Still a victory of this size will give them enormous confidence against Essendon next week, although the opposition will be vastly different.
Hawthorn kicked ten goals to three and led by 45 points at the half time break. However, they stretched their lead in the second half and almost doubled the lead by the end of the game. The Hawks best run of unanswered goals was seven majors in the second half.
The encouraging sign for Hawthorn was that every player in the team registered at least 10 possessions, except Jon Hay who left the field with an ankle injury. His absence during the game was the only sour note in the Hawks win. He is likely to miss the big clash against Essendon next week.
The game never reached any great heights and the injury-decimated West Coast team looked well out of its class against the Hawks.
The Eagles only highlight came in the final quarter when they kicked three goals in a row through Andrew Embley, Troy Wilson and Ryan Turnbull, although the game was well and truly over. It was their highest scoring quarter registering four goals, while Embley became their only multiple goalkicker, finishing with two goals.
The Eagles confidence was so sapped that when full-forward Troy Wilson marked outside 50, he had to shoot for goal – as no Eagle was within 25 metres of the goalsquare. However, about six of teammates were at the side of him.
The Hawks didn’t have a bad player on the ground with captain Shane Crawford arguably their best. He had great assistance from Daniel Harford, Rayden Tallis, Joel Smith (in his 100th game), Angelo Lekkas, Mark Graham and Kris Barlow (who kicked three goals and was a late replacement for Lance Picioane).
For the Eagles co-captains Ben Cousins and Dean Kemp stood out, as did former Hawk Richard Taylor and David Wirrpunda.
