Hawthorn give Shaun Burgoyne a night to remember for his 350th game with big win over Adelaide

HAWTHORN’s clash against Adelaide was all about ‘Silk’ — the man, not material — and despite a slow start, the Hawks definitely gave their 350-gamer a night to remember as Shaun Burgoyne was front and centre for all the celebrations.

Shaun Burgoyne kicked a goal in his 350th game and his teammates absolutely loved it. Picture: Michael Klein

THIS wasn’t a night made for silk — nor did that attributes come to the fore — but so much of the motivation behind Hawthorn’s 56-point win over Adelaide centred on a milestone man with one of the game’s most appropriate monikers.

Shaun “Silk” Burgoyne, 35, last night became the 16th VFL-AFL player to reach 350 games, and his teammates gave the evergreen 35-year-old a night to remember.

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He was solid rather than spectacular, but as Hawthorn leapfrogged Adelaide on the ladder — enhancing its finals prospects to the detriment of a bereft-of-confidence rival — the four-time premiership player was front and centre of the celebrations.

On a bleak night at the MCG, and with only a sparse crowd in attendance, you wouldn’t have blamed those in the stands for seeking refuge in a warmer place at halftime.

Shaun Burgoyne is chaired from the field by premiership teammates Jarryd Roughead and Ben Stratton after game 350. Picture: Michael Klein

Shaun Burgoyne kicked a goal in his 350th game and his teammates absolutely loved it. Picture: Michael Klein

After all, there were next to no highlights in the first hour of this match.

It was, to put it bluntly, a stinker.

The Hawks had clung to a four-point lead after a wasteful 3.9 to halftime, which would have frustrated the hell out of coach Alastair Clarkson and the fans watching on with increasing annoyance.

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It said something about the state of this contest that Crows ruckman Sam Jacobs was the leading goalkicker to halftime, with two goals.

But those Hawthorn fans who toyed with the idea of an early departure must be thankful they avoided the temptation after a third term demolition that might well have crushed the Crows’ season in what was a bleak return to the MCG for the first time since last year’s Grand Final nightmare.

Burgoyne runs out onto the MCG with his kids for his 350th career game. Picture: Michael Klein

Back then, it was a premiership lost. On Saturday night, it had all the hallmarks of a season all but done and dusted, as the Crows’ listless performance did little to dispel the talk that something is wrong with this team — and not just because of injuries.

The Hawks kicked 7.1 to 0.0 in the third quarter, five of them coming in the space of the first 12 minutes of the second half.

Three of those came from James Sicily, who feasted on some poor defensive efforts coming out of the back 50m from the Crows.

The Crows couldn’t hit the scoreboard in a miserable half-hour, only the seventh time in their history that they have failed to register a score across 2413 terms.

James Sicily kicked three goals in the third quarter to spark Hawthorn. Picture: Getty

The gap between Adelaide’s third and fourth goal was spread from the 19-minute-mark of the second term to the 10-minute-mark of the final quarter when — finally — Josh Jenkins broke the deadlock.

Yet it was only a tepid resistance.

Fittingly, Burgoyne got among the action in the last term as the man who is the equal fourth-most winning player nailed a goal to the roar of the 26,693 fans at the 12-minute-mark of the final term.

It was a moment of silk in a game almost devoid of it, as he bent a right-foot banana around his body at the Punt Rd end to push the margin out further.

Every Hawk player on the field rushed to the veteran, evidence of what Saturday night meant to them.

The Crows used to be that tight. They aren’t any more, and Saturday night proved that.

HAWTHORN 2.5 3.9 10.11 12.16 (88)

ADELAIDE 1.2 3.5 3.5 4.8 (32)

GLENN McFARLANE’S BEST: Hawks: Mitchell, Sicily, O’Meara, Gunston, Shiels, Breust, Howe, Burgoyne. Crows: Gibbs, M.Crouch, Milera, Kelly, Betts, Jacobs.

GOALS: Hawks: Sicily 3, Puopolo, Smith, Hardwick, Breust, Shiels, Ceglar, Gunston, Roughead, Burgoyne. Crows: Jacobs 2, Betts, Jenkins.

REPORTS: Nil.

INJURIES : Hawks: Frawley (migraine) replaced by Brand. Crows: Gibson (hamstring), Seedsman (hip).

UMPIRES: Stevic, O’Gorman, Stephens, Chamberlain.

CROWD: 26,693 at the MCG.

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Originally published as Hawthorn give Shaun Burgoyne a night to remember for his 350th game with big win over Adelaide