The Gold Coast Suns have sent Hawthorn to the bottom of the ladder for the first time in a decade, demolishing the winless Hawks by 86 points at Metricon Stadium in the biggest ever victory in the club’s history.
A 10-goal third term set up with the win with the Suns’ midfield dominating the day to win 21.13.139 to 7.11.53.
After a tense week in media spotlight, Gary Ablett junior set the tone and disposed of Hawthorn as he has done many times before with 36 disposals and two goals.
It was a completely different looking Gold Coast outfit with highly-talented Jack Martin, David Swallow, Aaron Hall, new-recruits Jarrod Witts and Michael Barlow – all putting on a dominating display with 51 clearances to 26, and 63 inside 50s to the Hawks’ 36.
Leading goalkicker Brandon Matera kicked six goals in the second half, including three in five minutes halfway through the final quarter to annihilate the loose Hawks defence.
Captain Jarryd Roughead played with heart and led the way for the Hawks with three goals, backed up by strong showings from recruits Ricky Henderson and Tom Mitchell.
Gun-recruit Jaeger O’Meara started well but fell away after kicking a long-range goal in the first quarter, no thanks to a raucous Gold Coast crowd finally showing some voice and passion against their former clubman.
The game itself broke a number of records with the Suns defeating the Hawks for the first time in the club’s seven-year history having lost their previous eight encounters. The Suns led for the whole match and had 156 more disposals throughout the night.
For the Hawks, it leaves them on the bottom of the ladder for the first time since Round 1, 2007 and a lot of soul-searching to do as the club is in unknown territory after so much success in the past decade. An Easter Monday clash against Geelong looks like a season-defining match next weekend for Hawthorn.
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