HAWTHORN 19.9 (123) def WEST COAST 16.7 (103)
HAWTHORN fought off a gallant West Coast Eagles side to win by 20 points in their Round 13 encounter at Etihad Stadium on Friday night.
After kicking six goals apiece in the first term the Hawks pilled on six to one in the second quarter to take control of the match.
West Coast fought back in the third quarter and reduced the margin to just eight points at the 14 minute mark before the Hawks kicked three goals to one for the remainder of the term, taking a 21 point lead into the final change.
Jarryd Roughhead and Jack Gunston led the way up forward for Hawthorn, each kicking five goals with Luke Breust adding three.
West Coast defender Eric McKenzie curbed the influence of Lance Franklin with the Hawthorn superstar only managing two goals.
Hawks skipper Luke Hodge was dominant with 25 possessions while Scott Selwood and Andrew Gaff were impressive for West Coast.
Josh Kennedy continued his strong form this season with five goals for West Coast and now leads the Coleman Medal race with 39 for the season.
West Coast’s Andrew Embley will have a nervous wait ahead as the Match Review Panel will look at an incident during the second quarter in which Embley appeared to drop his knee into Hawks defender Ben Stratton as the two were tangled on the Etihad surface.
Injuries were rife throughout the game, the Eagles Shannon Hurn was subbed out of the contest during the second quarter with an ankle injury.
The Hawks lost Paul Puopolo before the game with a quad injury. Grant Birchell (corked knee) and defender Josh Gibson (ankle) were the other Hawthorn casualties.
Injuries aside it was a night of celebrations for Hawthorn as Coach Alistair Clarkson notched up his 200th game as coach of the club and the Hawks won their eleventh game in a row- the sides’ best winning streak since 1975.
After the match, Clarkson was pleased with the efforts of his forward line.
“Our forwards were really, really dangerous all night,”
“We did look potent once we could get it in there, but (West Coast) were so damaging around the stoppages”, said Clarkson.
West Coast Eagles coach John Worsfold was disappointed with the result but was pleased with the performance of his side and implored his team to build on the effort.
“It was a pretty good performance tonight…overall there was a lot of good stuff out of tonight but it really means nothing unless we keep building on that”, said Worsfold.
It will be a quick turnaround for West Coast as they get set to take on Essendon at Patersons Stadium on Thursday night.
Hawthorn head to their second home in Tasmania to face the Brisbane Lions at Aurora Stadium next Sunday afternoon.
Here are the highlights from last night:
HAWTHORN 6.0 12.2 16.4 19.9 (123)
WEST COAST 6.2 7.6 12.7 16.7 (103)
GOALS
Hawthorn: Roughead 5, Gunston 5, Breust 3, Franklin 2, Savage 2, Lewis, Simpkin
West Coast: Kennedy 5, LeCras 2, Shuey 2, Selwood, Naitanui, Masten, Darling, Cox, Dalziell, Priddis
BEST
Hawthorn: Roughead, Hodge, Breust, Lake, Mitchell, Franklin, Gunston
West Coast: Cox, Kennedy, Selwood, Gaff, Shuey, Mackenzie
INJURIES
Hawthorn: Puopolo (quad tightness) replaced in selected side by Ellis, Birchall (right knee), Gibson (left ankle)
West Coast: Hurn (right ankle)
SUBSTITUTES
Hawthorn: Xavier Ellis replaced Grant Birchall during the third quarter
West Coast: Bradd Dalziell replaced Shannon Hurn during the second quarter
Reports: Nil
Umpires: Nicholls, Meredith, Findlay
Official crowd: 32,567 at Etihad Stadium