Hawks prey on struggling Suns
Hawthorn kicks nine unanswered goals midway through clash with Gold Coast to win by 53 points in Launceston.
PT1M30S 620 349HAWTHORN 3.0 6.4 12.7 14.9 (93) GOLD COAST 2.1 4.2 5.3 6.4 (40)
Goals: Hawthorn: D Hale 3 L Breust 3 J Gunston 2 C Rioli I Smith L Hodge L Shiels M Suckling S Burgoyne. Gold Coast: T Lynch 2 B Matera C Dixon K Brooksby L Russell.
Best: Hawthorn: Mitchell, Hodge, Lake, Hill, Shiels, Burgoyne, Gibson, Breust. Gold Coast: Hallahan, Lynch, Rischitelli, May, Kolodjashnij, Bennell, Saad
Injuries: Hawthorn: Lewis (bruised shoulder) replaced by Matt Suckling. Schoenmakers replaced by Litherland. Puopolo (ankle). Gold Coast: Jack Martin (hamstring).
Umpires: Matt Stevic, Sam Hay, Nick Brown
Official Crowd: 11,320 at Aurora Stadium
Launceston: This was supposed to be a complete massacre. Gold Coast, a young side with their heart and soul ripped out by injury, against the reigning premiers, who have made a habit of winning big on the rebound.
Tom Nicholls of the Suns tackles Hawthorn veteran Sam Mitchell. Photo: Getty Images
On a ground where they have never won, a venue where the home team has lost only twice this decade, and against an opponent it has yet to defeat.
While Hawthorn got the points over Gold Coast 14.9 (93) to 6.4 (40) at Aurora Stadium, for a half this script was turned completely on its head.
Gold Coast came to play, and for the first time in a long while, they brought their pressure game. Aided at times by heavy rain and a strong wind, the Suns had the Hawks rattled.
While this resulted in football that wasn't even close to pretty, the scrappy nature at least allowed them to compete with their more-fancied opponents.
The likes of Mitch Hallahan, Jesse Lonergan and Jarrod Harbrow threw themselves into the contest, displaying a desire that we have only seen rare glimpses off this year.
With Hawthorn's trademark outside run restricted, and one of their premier hardnuts Jordan Lewis a late withdrawal due to a bruised shoulder, the Launceston crowd saw a far different beast than the one they were expecting.
Alex Sexton's attempt to emulate Jeremy Howe on the half-back flank late in the first quarter was evidence that they weren't going to take a backwards step, despite the fact the missed opportunity led to a brown-and-gold goal.
Luke Russell, back in his home state, and Brandon Matera both kicked clever majors to answer David Hale's opener, before Luke Breust snagged two in his 100th game to take back the lead at the first change.
When Tom Lynch booted successive goals at the start of the second term, the Suns were up by eight points, which was a cause of celebration considering the pre-match gloom. Lynch was a loose man in defence who also pushed forward.
The Hawks started to get things back on their own terms as the quarter progressed, and with Matt Suckling, Hale and Jack Gunston again scoring majors, the margin could, and probably should, have been greater than 14 at the long break.
With the rain stopping at the start of the third quarter, what was expected in the first-half came after in the second, with Liam Shiels' goal 21 seconds in sounding a timely warning.
The tackle numbers told this tale. After leading in this area 39-34 at half-time, the visitors trailled 85 to 73.
Hawthorn would kick another 5.3 to 1.1 for the quarter, with Cyril Rioli and Shaun Burgoyne among the goalkickers in this Indigenous round clash.
With that pressure dropping, the Hawks found their run and it was too much for the Suns.
The final quarter was a non-event, with Hawthorn kicking 2.2 to 1.1 to run out 53-point winners.
The Hawks had contributors everywhere, with Sam Mitchell (37 possessions), Bradley Hill (33), Shiels (28 and 14 tackles) and Luke Hodge (30 leading the charge.
Brian Lake and Josh Gibson were both brilliant down back, while Breust and Hale both kicked three goals.
For the Suns, Steven May was outstanding in shutting down Roughead, Tom Lynch was brilliant in attack after starting at the other end of the ground, and Mitch Hallahan (30 possessions) won plenty of the ball against his old side
Gold Coast's injury woes deepened when Jack Martin, in his comeback game from an ankle injury, hurt his hamstring in the opening moments and was subbed out after three minutes.
Ryan Schoenmakers joined Lewis as a late withdrawal for the Hawks, for team balance rather than health reasons, with Suckling and Angus Litherland their replacements.
It was Hawthorn's 20th win in their past 21 matches in Launceston.
