HAWTHORN 19.10 (124) def PORT ADELAIDE 12.7 (79)
HAWTHORN returned to the type of form that it is renowned for – and that was minus Lance Franklin who was a withdrawal with a knee injury – to win by 45-points over Port Adelaide at AAMI Stadium on Saturday.
The interesting dilemma for the Hawks even as the make an audacious bid – the most lucrative for a Hawthorn player in its history – is that the team arguably plays better football without Buddy, despite him being a star of the game.
Jarryd Roughead found plenty of space to kick five goals while Jack Gunston stood up with four goals for the Hawks in the win.
“We’ve worked on that a fair bit and feel like we’ve got good potency that can be spread across a number of players that can go in that part of the ground,” Hawks coach Alastair Clarkson said.
“Savage stepped up and kicked three and I think Smith kicked three so that’s really pleasing. It’s really important to have that spread and not rely on just one or two players.”
The Hawks had been touted as Buddy conscious heading into last year’s grand final against Sydney and as it turned out, that was the case on grand final day. The Hawks have done a lot of work to ensure it has an even spread of goalkickers this season and in turn Buddy has played further up the ground in most matches.
Port Adelaide simply struggled to contain the type of pressure Hawthorn was putting on it.
“Clearly everyone that watched the game would say we over-used the ball – that’s the pressure that Hawthorn bring,” Power coach Ken Hinkley said.
“The two sides that I think have put us under that much pressure are Hawthorn and Geelong and they sit one, two on the ladder.
“We know we’ve got lots of work to do to handle the pressure that those top sides can put on you.
Here are the match highlights:
PORT ADELAIDE 2.2 8.4 10.5 12.7 (79)
HAWTHORN 6.0 10.4 16.6 19.10 (124)
GOALS
Port Adelaide: Monfries, Neade 2, Butcher, Schulz, Gray, Thomas, Ebert, Wingard, Boak, Cornes
Hawthorn: Gunston, Roughead 5, Savage, Smith 3, Lewis, Rioli, Hodge
BEST
Port Adelaide: Boak, Gray, Ebert, Wingard, Thomas,
Hawthorn: Roughead, Hodge, Smith, Gunston, Mitchell, Savage
INJURIES
Port Adelaide: Nil
Hawthorn: Ben Stratton (concussion).
SUBSTITUTES
Port Adelaide: Jake Neade replaced Tom Logan in the third quarter.
Hawthorn: Jonathan Simpkin replaced Ben Stratton in the third quarter.
Reports: Nil
Umpires: Dalgleish, Nicholls, Merideth
Official crowd: 23,748 at AAMI Stadium