Hawthorn pain will continue after Port thrashing

HAWTHORN suffered a torrid night against Port Adelaide, but the worst could be still to come this season.

Jarryd Roughead of the Hawks leads his team onto the ground.

HAWTHORN had a horror night in Port Adelaide, and two club legends say there’s worse news to come.

Port Adelaide powered a crushing 13.20 (98) to 7.5 (47) win on Thursday night.

The heavy defeat was historic as well, as several records fell. It was the first time Port Adelaide had ever held someone scoreless in the opening quarter in their history and Hawthorn’s three behinds is their lowest ever halftime score in their existence.

It was bad news all around for the Hawks and two club legends say the worst could be yet to come.

Jason Dunstall led the criticism on Fox Footy, but said it was simply the evolution of a football side that had been on top for a long period.

“It’s hard to watch,” Dunstall told Fox Footy. “No one likes to see the team that you love getting beat up like that. But if you understand where the list is at, there’s a realisation that’s going to happen a number of times this season.”

Dunstall urged Hawthorn to go public with their plan for the future to ease the pressure on coach Alastair Clarkson and the players.

“We haven’t heard the club speak publicly about where they think they’re at,” Dunstall said. “Do you come out and say you’re in a complete rebuild, or you’re in the process of rebuilding. That’s hard for your members and sponsors and all those people that say ‘you’re losing heart’, but the flipside is you’ve got to explain performances like this.

“You’re completely uncompetitive and you’ve actually got to make up excuses. The fact is there’s players missing through injury. There’s plenty of pain to come, but that’s the cycle you go through — they were at the top for so long, you have to come down at some stage.”

Hawks players walk onto the field during the Round 11 AFL match between the Port Adelaide.

Fellow Hawks legend Dermot Brereton said the senior players simply cannot get up and carry the load for the side, and without that quality performing at a high standard every week, Alastair Clarkson’s side cannot be competitive.

“These blokes have been on the Waterloo campaign — they’ve won three or four premierships,” Brereton told Fox Footy.

“At their age, they turn up to week one for Hawthorn and they say ‘boys, I think I’ve got one more real shot at a premiership. That’s what you play for. They say ‘get me to the big dance and I’ll do anything I can in the finals series to win this.

“By round four, these blokes knew we’re not getting to the big dance, we’re not even getting to the quarters and the breaking strain happened. Now those leaders, they turn up once every three or four weeks.”

A week after his slow-moving AFL brain-fade, Charlie Dixon has masterminded Port Adelaide’s stunning 51-point rout of a hapless Hawthorn. Dixon responded to a week of ridicule with an imposing four-goal haul in Port’s win.

A week ago, Dixon blew a chance of sealing a Port win in Geelong by taking too long for a set shot at goal — and his side lost.

Hawks head coach Alastair Clarkson speaks to his side.

But against the Hawks he was instrumental in a fast start for Port, kicking the first two goals of the game and setting up the third.

Port piled on 6.5 as Hawthorn were kept scoreless in an opening quarter for the first time in 11 years.

The Hawks, wilting under the Power’s heat, couldn’t muster a goal in the opening half for the first time since 2009.

Port crafted a match-defining 9.8 to 0.3 halftime lead before Hawthorn’s first goal came three minutes into the third quarter when James Sicily scored from a relayed free kick.

The error-prone Hawks were overwhelmed by a ferocious Power, who marked stalwart Brad Ebert’s 200th AFL game in style.

Ebert was superb in his side’s opening-half onslaught — he had 21 disposals by halftime and 34 for the match.

Teammates Jared Polec (24 possessions), Matthew Broadbent (24 touches), Ollie Wines (28 disposals) and Brendan Ah Chee (25 touches) were also influential ball-winners.

Dixon was the dominant forward force on the ground and his lively attacking colleague Jarman Impey booted 2.4.

Port entrenched themselves in the top eight with a sixth win of the season but Hawthorn (four wins, seven losses) remain back in the mire.

James Sicily, Luke Bruest and skipper Jarryd Roughead kicked two goals each for the disappointing visitors, while midfielder Tom Mitchell (30 disposals) Luke Hodge (27 touches) and Ryan Burton (25 possessions) battled gamely.

— With AAP