’They dismantled them’: Hawks’ Carlton bloodbath flips AFL on its head
Hawthorn are promising to be the AFL’s darkhorse after annihilating one of the season’s early hot favourites in ruthless fashion.
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The emerging Hawks have pulled off their hottest performance of the year yet, blitzing a sorry Blues outfit to usurp them on the ladder on what looms as a mightily costly day for Carlton.
After an arm-wrestle of a first quarter, the Hawks booted 13 goals to two for the final three quarters of the match to register a whopping 74-point victory, 16.16 (112) to 5.8 (38).
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The win saw Hawthorn, which started the season with a 0-5 record, leapfrog Carlton on the ladder into eighth spot in another giant step towards an unlikely finals appearance.
“What a performance,” four-time premiership Hawk Jordan Lewis told Fox Footy post-match, “It was as complete as you could’ve imagined or hoped for pre-game.
“They dismantled them early, their pressure was fantastic and the way they moved the ball was fantastic.”
As for Carlton, its season descended into complete and utter disarray as superstar Charlie Curnow suffered a seemingly serious lower leg injury.
Curnow limped heavily from the MCG field early in the third quarter in agony and couldn’t put any weight on his left leg as he was helped to the bench by a pair of trainers.
He more than likely took with him the Blues’ finals chances, let alone their premiership hopes, because worryingly it looked like his foot collapsed underneath him behind the play with no contact from an opponent.
It capped off a nightmarish afternoon for the Blues who finished the match with just one player on the bench, after star defender Adam Saad (hamstring) left the game in the final quarter while Jack Martin (hamstring/cut head) and Lachie Fogarty (collarbone) both exited the game in the first half as well.
Meanwhile, Jordan Boyd was forced to play out the game hampered by a hip injury because of Carlton’s personnel crisis.
“Nothing went right … That is a dejected group,” Lewis said.
“That is a heavy loss.”
The Blues are officially in free fall. For so long touted as the second-best team in the competition this year, having occupied second spot on the ladder seven weeks in a row at one stage, and as recently as Round 19, the Blues are now ninth on the ladder after losing five of their last six matches.
It was both Carlton’s biggest loss and lowest score in the Michael Voss era in front of 84,773 fans which was the biggest ever home-and-away crowd for a game between the Blues and Hawks.
Hawthorn’s finals fate is now well and truly in their hands. They face bottom-two Richmond and North Melbourne in the final two games while the Blues face West Coast (away) and St Kilda.
With percentage looking likely to be the decider between the two teams, the advantage seems to be with Hawthorn.
It’s been quite an incredible turnaround from the Hawks who started the year 0-5 and now loom as a legitimate finals wrecking ball after winning 11 of their last 14 games.
And they showed again on Sunday why they could potentially be a premiership dark horse in one of the most open seasons the VFL/AFL has ever seen.
Originally published as ’They dismantled them’: Hawks’ Carlton bloodbath flips AFL on its head
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