Another happy team at Hawthorn

Hawthorn has confirmed their status as the AFL’s powerhouse club with a pulverising 63-point win over Sydney in a disappointing grand final at the MCG.

The Hawks won their second flag in a row in their third grand final in as many years. Pre-match favourites the Swans were smashed from siren to siren and did not win a quarter.

The match billed as a cracker quickly became a fizzer. The Hawks lit up the MCG. The Swans had half a dozen players who stunk it up as they were dominated by Hawthorn’s battle-hardened midfield, led by Jordan Lewis, Sam Mitchell and 250 game skipper Luke Hodge, who won his second Norm Smith Medal, were simply too tough when the ball was there to be won, and too poised once they had won it.

That trio, aided by the class of Shaun Burgoyne and the youth of Will Langford, simply overwhelmed their Sydney opponents. Jarryd Roughead cashed in on the fall out to kick five goals. Langford and Luke Breust each kicked three in a 21.11 (137) to 11.8 (74) romp.

At the other end of the scale, Sydney lesser lights Lewis Jetta, Gary Rohan, Dane Rampe and Harry Cunningham, had games they would like to forget but may find it hard to.

The cave-in at the bottom end of Sydney’s 22, left the top end with too much to do and too few to do it.

Lance Franklin (four goals) and Adam Goodes (two) in attack looked capable of dominating the match if teammates could only get them enough supply. They couldn’t come close.

In short, the Hawks handled Sydney’s pressure easily. The Swans didn’t handle Hawthorn’s at all, with several attempts to clear the ball from their defence ending in disaster and Hawk goals.

Hawthorn started like they meant business and played mean. Sam Mitchell opened Rohan’s nose up with an errant arm in the opening seconds. Lance Franklin copped attention from Matt Spangher and Brian Lake after strong early marks.

But if some of their early aggression was misguided, much of Hawthorn’s work around the contest was well aimed and hit the mark.

The biggest flaw with their opening term was goal front accuracy with the normally deadly Jack Gunston butchering three shots to go with an early goal.

But the Hawks still went to quarter time with a handy 20-point lead. They had unnerved the Swans with strong tackling and used the ball astutely through Sydney’s pressure.

A couple of Swans found the pressure a bit hot. Heath Grundy offered a tentative spoil backing back into unknown territory when he could have marked. Nick Malceski and Dan Hanneberry (twice) were crunched in brutal tackles.

Sydney struggled to move the ball from defence in the pressure and Hawthorn got them on turnovers to score.

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]Paul Puopolo, the impressive Langford, Breust and Brad Hill joined Gunston as goalscorers.

At the other end Franklin took three shots for just one goal and a long Josh Kennedy goal, the first of the game, were their only majors in an opening term the Hawks dominated.

If they didn’t get full scoreboard value for their efforts in the first term, they certainly did in the second as they piled on six goals to three to storm to their seven goal half time lead.

Langford, Breust and Hodge all went to the main break with two goals as the Hawks got as far as 47 points in front two thirds of the way through the term before the swans finally managed a rally with two late goals.

Franklin was dangerous in one out duels deep in attack, whether opposed to Brian Lake, Josh Gibson or Hodge, but the Swans could not get the ball to him and they were taking a frightful thumping in the midfield where Mitchell in particular was dominant.

The Swans needed a massive midfield rally after half time but things only got worse for them. The Hawks piled on another five goals, at one stage clearing out to lead by over ten.

Kurt Tippett and Franklin got goals back for the Swans but when Langford grubbed a goal from deep in the forward pocket, the ball bouncing under one Sydney defender and over another, it was party time for the Hawks.

They went to three quarter time nine goals clear and there was no question as to who was going to win this grand final, only the question of how far the Hawks would win by.