A halftime wake-up call has saved Hawthorn from humiliation at the hands of a polished Carlton, with the reigning premiers holding on for a 19-point AFL win in Launceston.
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After stretching to a lead of 32 points during Saturday’s third quarter, the Hawks ended up winning 10.14 (74) to 7.13 (55).
The result goes down as Hawthorn’s 19th straight victory at their adopted home of Aurora Stadium, but far from their best showing.
Favourite Luke Breust finished with two goals in an effort matched by Jonathon Ceglar, but some of the Hawks’ big names kept a low profile.
Shaun Burgoyne was a standout for Hawthorn in the closing phases, finishing with 25 disposals and five inside-50s.
After slow starts, Sam Mitchell and Isaac Smith both contributed to the stats.
Overall, it was a lacklustre start for the premiers who were well below their best until halftime including a goalless second term when they went to the sheds in credit by only six points.
The stats backed the Blues in every regard except precision in front of goal.
Brendon Bolton’s men were better organised in defence and well ahead in terms of inside-50s, while Hawthorn’s usually valuable contributors were shy.
Patrick Cripps was the star for the Blues, finishing with 31 disposals, 11 clearances and four inside-50s.
He found support from Zach Tuohy and Andrejs Everitt.
The result consolidates Hawthorn’s position on top of the ladder.
Brinnx
Guest
Steve, I understand the feelings with Casboult , and I share them to some degree, but I think it would have to take a pretty good deal for them to trade him. Our problem is we don't have a lot of value elsewhere on the list that we want to trade, though I'd Imagine we could name our price if we offered up Cripps ..... Levi, and White for that matter, at least provides a big-ish body in the forward line and will need to shield the young'uns for a while yet.. McKay is yet to even make his debut and even if he ends up as Godzilla he's 2-3 years minimum away from being able to be the main man - I refer the court to Messer's Hawkins Hogan and Lynch as exhibits A , B and C. We have been linked to ever midfielder this side of the Amazon (player managers earning their 15% no doubt) and the only way I see us trading our top pick is for a Mitchell or Prestia etc etc. Tin foil hat - We get Tomlinson, Marchbank and MItchell, we trade down our top pick to the early teens and then send Walker to Freo or Geelong and Jamo to GWS.
steve
Guest
Pete, I think both Walker and Everitt, along with Rowe, White, Graham etc have some value to certain teams. SOS needs to get it right again this year.
steve
Guest
Brinnx, Id have no problem at all trading Casboult. I like him, but if we can use him as trade for players or picks then I wouldn't have a problem with it. Tomlinson looks almost locked on to coming to Carlton, as has been the rumour for some time. If we can get them to throw Marchbank in as well Id be pretty happy. There is also talk of us looking at Dion Prestia, who seemed assured of going to the Dee's, and Id be pretty happy getting a trade done with the Sun's for him too. Whatever happens, SOS needs to repeat the work he did last year, and do some smart trading again for players and picks. I think we have enough value in some of our players to make for another good trade period. I'm actually not even too concerned if we trade away our first pick for some ready made players to come straight into the side.
Pete
Guest
Hard to imagine any club offering anything for Jamieson, Walker or Everitt. Surely their careers are over.
Col from Brissie
Roar Guru
Yeah SOS is going to need all his tricks this draft. We will have an early 2nd round pick and we have two 3rd round picks (swap with Bulldogs 2015). If as you said we can get some more picks through trading players then he might be able to do some deals with GWS. I wonder if GWS might look at Jamison as a back up for Davis. Gibbs is having a great season especially considering the absence of Murphy and I would suggest they will hang onto him. If they could get a good pick for Casboult then I would say yes and hope that McKay, Curnow and Silvagni come on next year. Picking up Tomlinson would be a bonus as I think he has more to offer us than what we are currently getting out of Levi. We also have young Ben Silvagni available for the 2018 draft. At 16 he is already a 195cm forward. We should keep our first round pick and look to draft an outside mid to feed off Clearance King Cripps inside work.
Brinnx
Guest
Spot on Col, the defence has improved out of sight this year and to me it means this years draft/trade period is probably the most important one for Carlton FC since the draft was created. They can get something/anything for Jameson, Walker or Everett they should take it - If they can get a couple of 3rd rounders from this threesome they have a better hand to deal with GWS who need picks not players to load up again on their Academy. IF we can get Tomlinson and/or Marchbank and stay in the 1st round it would be a great result. I see a dim chance of going right off the reservation and trading Gibbs and Casboult but expect that they will want them plus Kruzer Simpson, Thomas and Murphy as the senior core they build the under 23s around.
Col from Brissie
Roar Guru
Brinxx, what has been pleasing is that the last 3 weeks we have played 3 of the top 5 teams and kept them to a total of 32 goals. it shows that the players have bought into and are executing Boltons 'team defence' game plan. Everyone knows we have problems kicking goals and that was the focus in last years draft. If we can continue to keep to the defensive game plan and improve our forward line whilst also picking up some quality outside run then the future looks very bright.
Brinnx
Guest
Go's on the back of Swans assistant coach Stewie Dew saying last week the blues have become a lot harder to play against this year. It may not be pretty but the Blues are making side's play ugly football to beat them. Love what the are doing this year.
Penster
Guest
They're a completely different side to last year's aren't they. Post match I think it was Lewis or Smith for the Hawks noted when their execution picks up they'll be a force.
Andrew
Guest
Very pleased with my blues performance especially over the last 3 weeks. Loss to West Coast by 7, loss to Sydney by 6 and a loss to Hawthorn by 19. For a team in the 1st year of a rebuild missing their captain for like 9 weeks I could not be more pleased with the effort and guts this team has shown. Well done boys!