Hawks smash hapless Bulldogs

Hawthorn have moved into the top four after mercilessly disposing of an outclassed Western Bulldogs outfit by 72 points under a closed roof at Etihad Stadium on Sunday.

The Dogs took it up to the Hawks for most of the first half but were blown away by a second-half onslaught, which at one stage saw the Hawks kick eight unanswered goals, to lose 17.14 (116) to 6.8 (44).

And with percentage set to play such an important part at the end of the season, the Hawks increased their already mammoth total by another 4.4 to 157.0 to celebrate Jarryd Roughead's 150th match in style.

The Hawks were totally dominant, comprehensively winning the inside 50 count (61-38), clearances (45-29) and contested possessions (156-116).

The victory was Hawthorn's sixth on the trot and ensured the Bulldogs had lost their past four matches by an average of 63 points after showing promising signs in the first half of the season.

Superstar Hawthorn forward Lance Franklin may have been missing due to his highly-publicised hamstring injury, but that didn't stop the Hawks from finding scoring avenues with no less than nine players kicking goals.

Jack Gunston bagged four while Ryan Schoenmakers, Luke Breust, Cyril Rioli, Jordan Lewis and Roughead each kicked two.

Sam Mitchell was a powerhouse in the middle of the ground with 34 possessions (13 contested), five tackles, six clearances, six inside 50s and a goal, while Josh Gibson did as he pleased in defence, racking up 29 touches of his own.

Jordan Lewis was also very effective with 23 touches, six clearances and two goals while Brad Sewell picked up 24 disposals and laid six tackles.

It would have been even uglier for the Bulldogs, who at one stage went over an hour without a goal, had it not been for Brian Lake who did a good job on Roughead while Matthew Boyd, in his 200th match, was a shining light in their midfield with 37 disposals, eight clearances and seven inside 50s.

Shaun Higgins booted three goals and defender Tom Williams, in his first game back from injury for the year, played well in a rare day up forward, finishing with 12 touches, eight marks and a goal, while Robert Murphy (24 disposals) was effective all day.

The Bulldogs started the match brightly and caught a sloppy Hawthorn off guard to boot three of the first four goals courtesy of Tory Dickson, Williams and Higgins to skip out to a handy 10-point lead halfway through the first quarter.

The Dogs were first at the ball and harder at the contest for much of the opening stanza, and the Hawks were struggling to cope with the early frantic pressure they were under, which was highlighted by their less-fancied opponents leading the tackle count 20-10 at quarter-time.

But the Bulldogs failed to make the most of the momentum they enjoyed as their intensity died down towards the end of the quarter and Hawthorn took full advantage with Lewis, Gunston and Schoenmakers all goaling to hand the Hawks a seven-point lead at quarter-time.

Higgins cut the deficit to two four minutes into the second term but three Hawthorn goals in five minutes from Rioli, Mitchell and Brendan Whitecross extended it back out to 20 as the Hawks found a lot more space to get their devastating high-quality possession game going.

But just as the Hawks threatened to bust the game open, Higgins, who was putting on a set shot master class in the first half, pegged another one back two minutes later.

Hawthorn dominated the clearances (17-8) and inside 50s (16-6) in the second quarter but could only manage one more goal for the term thanks to a Luke Breust snap at the 21-minute mark as the Hawks went into half-time with just a 19-point advantage.

However, the Dogs' resistance completely evaporated in the third term as the Hawks went on the rampage, booting 6.5 to one behind to head into three-quarter time with a 59-point lead and put the result to bed.

The pick of the Hawks' third-term goals came at the 17-minute mark when Rioli shrugged off a tackler in the centre square, took a bounce and drilled it from 50m on the run.

But four minutes later, Jordan Lewis produced a decent challenger when he crumbed a pack on top of goal square, fended off Murphy and, running away from goal, snapped around truly from 30m out.

WESTERN BULLDOGS: 3.2, 5.4, 5.5, 6.8 (44)
HAWTHORN: 4.3, 8.5, 14.10, 17.14 (116)

GOALS: WESTERN BULLDOGS: Higgins 3, Dickson, Williams, Cordy
HAWTHORN: Gunston 4, Schoenmakers 2, Breust 2, Rioli 2, Lewis 2, Roughead 2, Mitchell, Whitecross, Sewell
BEST: WESTERN BULLDOGS: Lake, Boyd, Murphy, Higgins, Williams
HAWTHORN: Mitchell, Gibson, Lewis, Sewell, Gunston, Roughead, Birchall
INJURIES: WESTERN BULLDOGS: Markovic (hamstring)
HAWTHORN: Nil
REPORTS:Nil
SUBS: WESTERN BULLDOGS: Jason Tutt replace Lukas Markovic (3rd Qtr)
HAWTHORN: Kyle Cheney replaced Ryan Schoenmakers (3-Qtr time)
CHANGES: Stephen Gilham replaced Bradley Hill (tactical) in Hawthorn's selected side
UMPIRES: Foot, Armstrong, Jeffery
CROWD: 24,754 at Etihad Stadium