HAWTHORN has fired an ominous warning to the rest of the competition that its back-to-back flags have not sated its premiership hunger, with an imposing 62-point victory over Geelong at the MCG on Easter Monday.
The Hawks set up with their win with a remarkable 13-goal-to-two run from the start of second quarter that turned a six-point quarter-time deficit into a 68-point lead at the one-minute mark of the final term.
The only thing that saved the Cats from a bigger hiding was the Hawks' sudden attack of goalkicking yips that saw them kick 1.8 in the final term, with most of their missed shots simple ones.
It was Hawthorn's biggest win over the Cats since round 14, 1990, and its fourth win from the past five clashes against its recent nemesis.
The Cats opened the game well enough, absorbing a ferocious start from the Hawks before getting the better of general play to kick four of the final five goals of the first term.
But from there the Hawks' dominance was scary.
Outmuscling Geelong around the stoppages and – after a sloppy first term by their standards – slicing the Cats' defence apart with their trademark clinical ball movement, the Hawks were unstoppable.
The Cats' tough start to the year could get even more difficult after Steve Johnson was reported for a second-quarter bump on Hawks star Sam Mitchell.
Johnson cannoned into Mitchell's back after the former Hawks skipper tapped a high-bouncing ball onto a teammate.
Mitchell took some time to get back up to his feet and Johnson was subsequently reported for rough conduct by emergency umpire Curtis Deboy.
The only sour note to the Hawks' day came when Liam Shiels was substituted out of the game early in the third quarter with an apparent hamstring injury.
Coach Alastair Clarkson said he had asked his players to "hunt the footy a bit more" at his quarter-time address and was "really pleased" with their response in the second and third quarters.
"Geelong were controlling the ball, so we just weren't getting our hands on the ball anywhere near as much as we should have," Clarkson said.
"That was partly because Geelong wouldn't allow us to have the ball and partly because we weren't hunting it well enough.
"So a combination of both those things meant that we controlled that a little bit better in the second quarter and that allowed us to get some score on the board and put some pressure on the Geelong side."
Jordan Lewis was outstanding for Hawthorn with a game-high 35 possessions, Shaun Burgoyne oozed class across half-back as did Cyril Rioli up forward, while Josh Gibson, Brian Lake and former Demon James Frawley teamed up to ensure Cats key forwards Tom Hawkins and Mitch Clark barely had a sniff in the final three quarters.
Luke Breust kicked five goals for the victors, while Jarryd Roughead and Paul Puopolo kicked three each - the former setting the tone early in the match with his fierce tackling and the latter putting in an early entry for mark of the year with a third-term speccy over Jed Bews, Jared Rivers and Ben McEvoy.
Cats coach Chris Scott said his team had struggled to stop the Hawks' "pretty impressive" ball movement.
"(I) probably would have preferred to stop it around the contest," Scott said.
"They were very clean and able to move the ball pretty fluently. The weight of numbers in the second quarter told.
"They really beat us around the ball and we just weren't able to take it forward."
Steven Motlop (32 possessions), Jimmy Bartel (28) and Steve Johnson (27) led the way for the Cats, while former Demon Clark finished with three goals in his club debut.
It had looked as though the teams were going to produce another Easter Monday classic after the first term.
The Hawks' pressure was ferocious from the opening bounce, with two of their first three goals coming directly from Roughead tackles on Cats defender Corey Enright.
However, Hawthorn's kicking efficiency was way down on its usual standards, allowing the Cats to control possession.
With Johnson, Motlop and Bartel prolific through the midfield, Geelong kicked four of the first term's final five goals to go into quarter-time six points up.
But the Hawks turned the game on its head from the start of the second quarter, kicking five straight goals to open up a 28-point lead by the 21-minute mark of the term.
The Cats did not score for the quarter until Josh Caddy goaled at the 24-minute mark – their only score for the term – and a late Ben McEvoy goal ensured the Hawks had extended their lead back out to 28 points by half-time.
The Hawks' second-term dominance was reflected in the kick (68-38), disposal (104-83) and inside 50 (21-7) counts.
Geelong's bad day finished on a sour note, with Bartel suffering a concussion after a tackle only seconds before the final siren.
HAWTHORN 3.3 9.7 16.13 17.21 (123)
GEELONG 4.3 5.3 6.6 8.13 (61)
GOALS
Hawthorn: Breust 5, Puopolo 3, Roughead 3, McEvoy 2, Mitchell, Rioli, Gunston, Anderson
Geelong: Clark 3, Hawkins 2, Motlop, Caddy, Bews
BEST
Hawthorn: Lewis, Mitchell, Burgoyne, Lake, Gibson, Puopolo, Ceglar, Breust
Geelong: Motlop, Bartel, Johnson
INJURIES
Hawthorn: Shiels (hamstring)
Geelong: Andrew Mackie (quad tightness) replaced in the selected side by Billie Smedts. Bartel (concussion)
SUBSTITUTES
Hawthorn: Jed Anderson replaced Liam Shiels in the third quarter
Geelong: Cory Gregson replaced Dawson Simpson in the third quarter
Reports: Steve Johnson (Geelong) for rough conduct on Sam Mitchell (Hawthorn) in the second quarter.
Umpires: Matt Stevic, Sam Hay, Troy Pannell
Official crowd: 73,584 at the MCG
