HAWTHORN’S unbeaten record remains intact after the Hawks saw off a brave challenge from Port Adelaide to post a 17.15 (117) to 15.12 (102) win at Aurora Stadium in Launceston on Saturday.
The Power held a 38-point lead over a lacklustre Hawthorn side early in the second quarter before the Hawks re-organised themselves to wind back the deficit and go on to record their eighth victory of the season and just their second over Port in their last 10 meetings.
That result looked highly unlikely for much of the first half as Port Adelaide played with the kind of determination and discipline usually associated with the unbeaten Hawks.
With their midfielders getting their hands on the ball early and often to send the ball long and deep into attack, the Power played some irresistible football, but after too many uncharacteristic errors early, the class of Hawthorn showed through as the match progressed.
Brad Sewell was outstanding for the Hawks with 34 telling possessions and two goals with Chance Bateman (28 disposals), Sam Mitchell (27) and Jordan Lewis (36) also important in the engine room.
Lance Franklin continued his stellar season and remains on track to break the ton with his six goal-effort a key factor on the day.
Shaun Burgoyne was brilliant for Port with 31 touches and eight tackles while Warren Tredrea was good early with four first-half goals.
The Hawks have profited from their iron-willed adherence to Alastair Clarkson’s game plan so far in 2008, but they were in disarray in the first term as the switched-on Power set up a commanding early lead.
Port’s forwards were beating Hawthorn’s zone with apparent ease with skipper Tredrea leading from the front with three goals. The confusion spread further up the ground for the Hawks, however, with the Power’s superior pressure forcing uncharacteristic turnovers through the middle.
Franklin was one of his side’s few winners in a quarter where Port had 112 possessions to Hawthorn’s 74. ‘Buddy’, matched up against Toby Thurstans, only managed two kicks, but they were both goals; Hawthorn’s only majors for the term.
Things got worse for Hawthorn when Mitchell was stretchered off the field in a daze after a bump from Shaun Burgoyne, but he returned midway through the second.
Brent Guerra left the match early in the second quarter after he pulled up holding his right hamstring in a marking contest with Daniel Motlop. The Power forward’s resulting goal pushed the margin out to an imposing 38 points, but also marked the start of a Hawk resurgence.
Sewell was the driving force with 11 disposals and two team-lifting goals with Franklin continuing to impress with his athleticism allowing him to take his goal tally to four.
The deficit was slashed to 18 points after his fourth 17 minutes in, but Port are made of sterner stuff than an 0-4 start to the season suggests with goals to Robbie Gray and Tredrea momentarily halting the run.
It was only a brief respite, however, as goals to Cyril Rioli and Sewell made it a 17-point ball game at the main break.
The contest lifted yet another notch in the third term as the teams went toe-to-toe.
The mercurial Motlop provided a moment of brilliance when he marked a kick-in near where the 50m arc and the boundary line intersect before turning Campbell Brown inside out to split the middle.
The margin got back out to 25 points before the Hawks put together their best period of the day. Sewell continued his excellent work around the stoppages with Mitchell also working back into the game well after his earlier mishap.
Hawthorn piled on six of the last seven goals of the quarter with Franklin’s superb dribbled goal from an acute angle – his sixth – giving his side the lead for the first time with under two minutes remaining.
Jarryd Roughead’s third in the shadows of three-quarter time made it a seven-point lead to the Hawks and set up a titanic final term.
But both sides were a little tentative with the game there for the taking. Neither was able to conjure a goal in 10 minutes of play as the tension grew in the largely pro-Hawthorn crowd.
Michael Osborne’s goal in the 12th minute edged the Hawks closer and when Mark Williams nailed his first with 25 minutes gone, the premiership points had been decided.
Hawthorn 2.2 8.7 15.9 17.15 (117)
Port
GOALS
Hawthorn: Franklin 6, Roughead 3, Osborne 2, Sewell 2, Williams, Young, McGlynn, Rioli
Port
BEST
Hawthorn: Sewell, Mitchell, Franklin, Lewis, Bateman, Brown
Port
INJURIES
Hawthorn: B Guerra (hamstring)
Port Adelaide: None
Reports: B McGlynn (Hawthorn) reported by field umpire M Nicholls for making front-on contact to K Cornes (Port Adelaide) in the second quarter.
Umpires: Kennedy, Nicholls, Wenn
Official crowd: 15,682 at Aurora Stadium
