Hawthorn defeats Carlton by 21 points, NAB Challenge at Aurora Stadium

HAWTHORN eventually blew out the cobwebs, recovering from a rusty start to defeat a gallant Carlton in the first NAB Challenge clash of 2016.

NAB Cup - Hawthorn v Carlton Bradley Hill & Sam Docherty Picture:Wayne Ludbey

THE KILLJOYS will point to the scoreboard, which showed premiers Hawthorn strolled to victory while still in second gear at Aurora Stadium on Thursday night.

The realists will discount 40 minutes of beautiful football, pointing to the second-half Hawks domination that inevitably followed.

They can all get stuffed.

SUPERCOACH SCORES: Hawks v Blues

On Thursday night the AFL’s worst side of 2015 emerged transformed after a summer of toil.

A side that last year lost two games to Hawthorn by a combined total of 195 points has finally given its supporters some hope.

And that is the only commodity that really matters in NAB Challenges like these.

Hawthorn’s triple premiership stars gradually eased past last year’s easybeats in the year’s first NAB Challenge clash, finishing 21 points to the good.

Courtesy of its brilliant star power, a pair of contentious free kicks and the effortless swagger of a team at the peak of its powers, it easily got the job done.

It was scrappy early as Hawthorn's Daniel Howe and Carlton's Zach Tuohy discovered. Picture: Luke Bowden

But despite that all Carlton thrust itself forward as the story of the night.

A side that last year blundered and stuttered without real system at times hunted in swarming packs, switched with real intent, tackled to hurt and had a game plan befitting modern football.

A list last year mocked for its trade blunders witnessed a scintillating performance from Adelaide’s Sam Kerridge (28 touches) and saw 2015 busts Blaine Boekhorst and Mark Whiley show real promise for the first time.

And a fanbase that grew frustrated when Dale Thomas and Matthew Kreuzer were injured and Bryce Gibbs seemed to lose interest last year would be thrilled by razor-sharp performances from that talented trio.

For a side that lost 15 players last year the positives rather than the scoreboard result provided a highly encouraging start to the Brendan Bolton era.

Matthew Kreuzer got through uninjured (a victory in itself), Levi Casboult hauled in four towering contested marks and under-utilised midfielder Nick Graham (two goals, 18 touches) looked tidy and effective.

Luke Breust kicked three goals in the first half. Picture: Wayne Ludbey

Only Charlie Curnow of the early draftees was handed game time, scrounging a quick shot at goal from two touches playing deep forward after coming in at half time.

None of the feel-good vibes guarantees Carlton will climb out of the bottom four in this most even of competitions.

Still, a side that has been mired in mediocrity suddenly has a way out of its rut.

Pour 50 games into Jacob Weitering and Harry McKay — late withdrawals yesterday — bring back stars Marc Murphy and Patrick Cripps and bring the fans on a bumpy but exciting ride.

Certainly the raucous Carlton fans who cheered and hooted every moment in a crowd of 9181 seemed ready to buckle up.

Of course normal service resumed for three of the AFL’s most consistent players, as Sam Mitchell, Luke Hodge and Grant Birchall (24 possessions) all picked up where they left off last October.

Hawthorn fans, though, were looking at the Round 1 audition further afield as a trio of forwards pushed for Jarryd Roughead’s vacant spot.

Sam Mitchell had 12 disposals in the first half.

Call it even on points, as Jack Fitzpatrick (eight possessions, 0.2) took a pair of strong contested marks, Tim O’Brien nailed a third-term set shot and James Sicily converted his own clever second-term mark.

Daniel Howe’s nine first-term possessions showed his boundless talent and Luke Breust mixed midfield time with three lethal first-half goals.

By game’s end Billy Hartung had run himself into the ground for 23 touches and Josh Gibson and Jordan Lewis (both 26 possessions) were in fine touch too.

A Carlton side that has so often staggered battered and bruised from these encounters walked tall.

And as a first step in the club’s greatest rebuild in its proud history that was a pretty good place to start.

HAWTHORN 0.1.1 0.4.2 0.7.3 0.8.5 (53)

CARLTON 0.2.2 0.3.3 0.3.5 0.4.8 (32)

GOALS

Hawthorn: Breust 3, Willsmore, Sicily, Schoenmakers, Mitchell, O’Brien

Carlton: Graham 2, Everitt, Casboult

JON RALPH’S BEST

Hawthorn: Mitchell, Birchall, Breust, Lewis, Hartung, Hodge

Carlton: Kerridge, Simpson, Thomas, Rowe, Graham, Jamison, Casboult

THREE THINGS WE LEARNT

1. Carlton has a game plan. Under Mick Malthouse it played the boundary and desperately avoided risk.

This Blues outfit wins it in close, loves the switch, overlap runs and plays modern zone defence. It was only a small sample size, but Brendan Bolton has put his stamp on the Blues.

Carlton's Sam Kerridge was a prolific ball-winner. Picture: Luke Bowden

2. Sam Kerridge has already won over the Blues faithful after being swapped for Troy Menzel over the summer.

His first term in Navy Blue was electric, ripping the ball from stoppages at will and setting up Levi Casboult’s first AFL goal of the year.

The Blues need a midfield extractor much more than a flighty half-forward.

3. Will Sam Mitchell (29 possessions) and Luke Hodge (16 quality touches) ever slow down? Both were in barnstorming form in last year’s premiership win and knocked up winning touches again in a meaningless NAB Challenge game. They just love winning games of football.

SUPERCOACH SCORES: Hawks v Blues