58,307 people turn out to watch Hawthorn easily account for Collingwood at the MCG last night. The win sees the Hawks sitting at second spot on the AFL ladder, a position we won't know if the can secure until after the Western Bulldogs play this weekend. Conversly, Collingwood are likely to drop out of the top 8 at the end of this round, a stark reality check for the team who many thought would be a top 4 contender only a few short weeks ago.

From the first bounce the Hawks controlled the run of the ball through the midfield which provided the catalyst for the Hawthorn power forwards, Buddy Franlkin and Jarryd Roughead to kick 12 goals between them. Sam Mitchell, the extractor, lived up to his nickname, dominating the clearances and having the run of the ground for the duration of the night. At no time did Collingwood attempt to tag the Hawks captain, and he hut Collingwood for their leniency. 

Collingwood got another up-close look at Clarko's Cluster and the result was much the same as the round 7 Clash. Hawthorn delivered Collingwoods second largest loss of the season (roun 7 being the worst). The cluster worked very well for the Hawks except it did tire the team out significantly. Collingwood were able to get within 10 points during the third quarter before the Hawks, led by Lance Franklin up forward, were able to kick away.

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A tired and "limping" Hawthorn easily accounted for a hapless West Coast last night by 57 points at the MCG. After a very inaccurate first quarter the Hawks were looking as though they were going to play down to their opponents level for the night, but the lifted in the second, kicked 6 straight goals. Hawthorn can certainly benefit from its first Friday night game and use the extended break to bring back key players who were missing from last night's encounter.

Shane Crawford hurt his knee again late in the third term, where as Hodge copped a kick to the calf early in the match but should be fit to play against the Swans in round15. The break should see the Hawks welcome the return of Sewell, Taylor, Bateman and Dew.

 It was a game for the forwards last night, with Buddy and Roughead kicking 2 more goals then the entire Eagles team. Scoreline aside though, the Hawks didn't look anywhere near as polished as they did at the start of the year. After watching Geelong's surgical destruction of the Eagles away from home last week, and comparing it to last nights game, the Hawks have a bit of work to do if they want to match it with the competition leaders in a few rounds time.

It was great to get back on the winners list, let's hope the Hawks are ready for the Swans in round 15.

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Hawthorn have broken a 14 year drought to beat Adelaide at AAMI stadium on Saturday night in front of a sell out crowd. It was Adelaide who go the jump on Hawthorn, kicking the first 5 scoring shots of the match within the opening 5 minutes. Hawthorn steadied though and brought the margin back to one point at the first break.

The second term started much as the second, with Hawthorn on the back foot as Adelaide ran hard and once again got themselves a few goals up. It was almost a case of groundhog day as Hawthorn steadied once more to fight back with some accurate kicking early on from Mark Williams who finished with 2 goals 3. 

The second term also saw Buddy Franklin on report for a head high bump on Michael Doughty. It's difficult to say whether Buddy will miss any game time, the bump was certainly high, but Doughty was being tackled by Osborne at the time and was moved into contact. We will have to see what happens during the week. If that wasn't enough, chance Bateman also suffered a hamstring injury and took no further part in the game.

Luke Hodge was dangerous all night and ended the match with 28 disposals, three more than Sam Mitchell. Both were instrumental in Hawthorn's win with one goal apiece at crucial times during the match. Sam Mitchell kicked a great goal in the third quarter to give Hawthorn the lead for the first time in the match. Luke Hodge showed great composure and kicked what was to be the winning goal with minutes left on the clock. 

Buddy was kept quiet for most of the night, only having a few set shots and the odd snap out of a clearance. He finished the night with 1 goal 6, but did spend some time in the midfield covering the absence of Chance Bateman. Roughead had strong hands and rarely spilled a mark in his 3 goals 1.

Adelaide showed great pressure and I think they certainly proved a few of their critics wrong; even though they didn't come away with the 4 premiership points. 

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Hawthorn has bounced back, after a round 10 loss to the Bulldogs, in convincing fashion to record a 51-point win over Essendon at Telstra Dome last night.

The Hawks welcomed back Luke Hodge who played is first game in 5 weeks after he injured his hamstring against the Magpies back in round 7. Hodge's return was nothing less than spectacular, with the midfielder picking up 22 possessions.

The match was anyones up to half time with the Hawks struggling to assert their dominance on the game early in the peace. The performance after the break was a different story though. The Hawks booted 10 goals to Essendon's four after half time to turn a narrow half time lead into a blow-out win, with Chance Bateman and Michael Osborne joining Franklin and Hodge among the best.

Essendon's Andrew Welsh headed for Hawthorn skipper Sam Mitchell at the first bounce, and applied a hard tag that would restrict the Hawk to just two possessions in the first quarter. Wherever Mitchell went, Welsh followed, and it was a duel that had everything including an off-the-ball incident in the second term that saw the Hawks' captain grounded and his teammates remonstrating with Welsh.

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