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Adelaide’s season has continued to spiral out of control, Hawthorn celebrating Shaun Burgoyne’s 350th AFL game with an emphatic 56-point win.
In their first visit to the MCG since losing last year’s grand final, the listless Crows slumped to a 6-7 record with their fourth loss in a row.
The Hawks led Saturday night’s dour contest by four points at halftime, but swept aside Don Pyke’s meek men with a seven-goals-to-nil third quarter in a 12.16 (88) to 4.8 (32) thumping.
Tom Mitchell and Jaeger O’Meara led the way with 39 and 30 possessions each, while James Sicily had 24 disposals and booted three third-term goals.
Milestone man Burgoyne had 24 touches and capped his big night with a last-quarter goal.
Bryce Gibbs was Adelaide’s best with 28 possessions and six clearances, but he was the best of a bad bunch.
The Hawks won’t mind how it looked but, if AFL chief Gillon McLachlan needed further evidence the game might need a nudge in the right direction, he need look no further.
The first half was exactly the sort of snail-paced, low-scoring, error-riddled, congested tedium that has the league investigating rule changes.
Case in point, Crows ruckman Sam Jacobs hadn’t kicked a goal in 12 games this season.
But he booted his side’s first two majors, which says a bit about how well Adelaide’s sputtering forward line was functioning.
Hawthorn’s forwards weren’t setting the ‘G alight either, with inside 50s at both ends met by swarms of players.
With three goals apiece at halftime, the inaccurate Hawks led by four points.
But Sicily kicked off a withering seven-goal burst and Adelaide surrendered.
Socceroos skipper Mile Jedinak scored more goals on Saturday night than the Crows did in the third term, Adelaide going scoreless for just the seventh time in their 28-season history.
The margin was 48 points at three-quarter time and Burgoyne’s goal was the highlight of the last quarter.
The Hawks improved to a 7-5 record and it’s hard to see Adelaide making the finals.
The injury-ravaged Crows will face top-four sides, West Coast, Richmond and Geelong, when they emerge from their bye.
Hawthorn’s James Frawley was a late withdrawal with a migraine and was replaced by Kaiden Brand.
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