HAWTHORN 8.4 Â 9.7 Â 11.9 Â 14.12 (96)
NORTH MELBOURNE 1.0 Â 6.2 Â 8.7 Â 8.9 (57)
GOALS Hawthorn: Rioli 3, Breust 2, Puopolo 2, Hill, Birchall, Ceglar, Gunston, Lewis, Burton, Langford. North Melbourne: Petrie 3, Gibson 2, Thomas, Nahas, Goldstein.
BEST Hawthorn: Mitchell, Hill, Smith, Rioli, Whitecross, Lewis. North Melbourne: Tarrant, Petrie, Ziebell, Dal Santo, Gibson, Daw.
UMPIRES Scott Jeffery, Robert Findlay, Shane McInerney.
CROWDÂ 50,657 at MCG.
If you believe a team can only be judged by their ability to play four full quarters, Hawthorn aren't what they were. And if you were at the MCG on Saturday, you also know that both that premise, and that judgement, are rubbish.
Sure, the Hawks weren't switched on for every minute of this important win over North Melbourne. But so devastating was their first power-packed quarter that, in the end, they didn't need to be.
Leading by as much as 48 points late in the second quarter before North awoke from a surprising slumber given what was at stake, Hawthorn were able to soak up a spirited Roos' revival, conceding seven of the next nine goals, yet still win by 39 points.
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The Roos got as close as 14 points midway through the third quarter and looked a genuine chance. Yet Lindsay Thomas's left-foot snap was instead North's last goal of the game, Hawthorn steadying the ship, then putting the result beyond doubt with three goals to none in the last term.
For all the ebbing and flowing, it was that devastating opening to this game that had proved the difference. And what a difference.
The writing was on the wall from the first bounce, from which a flying snap by Brad Hill just grazed the post. Hawthorn had two goals on the board, both from free kicks, in the first nine minutes. But even that was just an entree.
The third was classic Hawthorn, the ball won at half-back and swept the length of the field with a succession of chip passes and handballs, Will Langford the man to capitalise on the work.
The ball went back to the centre, the Hawks won another clearance, and Cyril Rioli, everywhere early, dobbed the fourth from the 50-metre arc. North were already in serious trouble. But it would get worse yet, three more goals about to be slammed on by Hawthorn in less than three minutes.
Jordan Lewis had the first, debutant Ryan Burton cleverly snapped another a minute later, then Rioli out-bustled Shaun Atley to mark and convert from 40 metres.
It was 7.3 to no score, Hawthorn having racked up 16 inside 50 entries to just three. Key North Melbourne ball-winners Brent Harvey, Ben Cunnington and Andrew Swallow had gathered just four disposals between them.
Luke Breust dribbled one through from a tight angle 35 metres out and the margin was just on eight goals, a nightmare for North unfolding. Given that context, the Roos' response in the second term was credible indeed.
Drew Petrie managed to get a toe to one in the goalsquare after some good work further afield from Majak Daw, though Paul Puopolo had the answer on the board soon enough. But the rest of the quarter belonged to the Roos.
They booted four goals to none for the rest of the term, and by the long break, a margin which looked destined to wind up somewhere close to the three-figure mark was instead down to only 23 points.
Suddenly, the Hawks weren't racking up easy uncontested possessions. The Roos actually began to lay some tackles. Robbie Tarrant, opposed to Jack Gunston's smarts, was having a sensational term, his intercept marking a highlight. Harvey and Sam Gibson began to find some football. And the goals started coming.
Three of them in a four-minute burst, to Petrie again, Robin Nahas and Gibson himself, gave the Roos some genuine hope. Gibson's second, right on the bell, saw North charging off the ground with renewed enthusiasm, Hawthorn suddenly with some food for thought.
But just when North looked more than capable of pulling out what might have been a victory for the ages given their start, the Hawks found what needed to be found, whilst the Roos proceeded to shoot themselves in the foot.
Four times, Robin Nahas won the ball inside 50 only to surrender scoring opportunities with three sloppy disposals then an even sloppier out-on-the-full.
Skipper Swallow had a costly fumble, the ball whisked to the other end, where Breust plunged a metaphorical dagger into the Roos' heart. And that was pretty much that. Runners Isaac Smith and Brad Hill, already conspicuous, went to another level again. Sam Mitchell did what he always does, winning a truckload of ball and using it well.
And Rioli finished the game as he'd started it, being unstoppable.
Are the Hawks, similarly, unstoppable? Not by any stretch. But when they're in the sort of nick they were in the first quarter of this game, it takes something pretty damn special to stop them.
And, as we've come to know over the last few years, they also have an uncanny knack of delivering that sort of form precisely when it's most required.
Votes
HAWTHORN v NORTH MELBOURNE
(Rohan Connolly)
Sam Mitchell (Haw)………..8
Robbie Tarrant (NM)……….8
Brad Hill (Haw)…………….7
Isaac Smith (Haw)………….7
Cyril Rioli (Haw)……………7