NAB Challenge: Hawthorn defeats North Melbourne by 45 points at Etihad Stadium

A DOMINANT premiership quarter saw the reigning premiers Hawthorn run away with a 45-point victory over North Melbourne in their final pre-season hitout.

Hawthorn v North Melbourne - 2016 AFL NAB Challenge

IT IS rolling again.

That big, intimidating Hawthorn machine rolled menacingly off the 2016 starting line. Destination — a fourth consecutive premiership.

Let’s call a spade a spade. The Hawks took the mickey against a plucky Carlton in NAB 1 and disguised themselves as Box Hill in a NAB 2 thrashing at the hands of Richmond.

Perhaps battling for motivation, they’d managed only 12 goals in two games. But they chose the hapless, nearly-there North Melbourne as the roadkill to launch another juggernaut.

Hawthorn’s clutch of triple premiership stars turned on 30 minutes of power football to bury the Kangaroos at Etihad Stadium. The Hawks trailed by seven points at halftime, but half an hour later they led by 42 approaching three-quarter time.

Game over.

Memories are short in this caper and here was a not-so-friendly reminder of this side’s capabilities. After a last quarter of junk time football, the Hawks had broken their pre-season duck in brutal fashion to win by 45 points. They had kicked 11 of the last 15 goals.

North Melbourne was disappointing. A side desperate to take the next step after two consecutive preliminary final exits, could count only Shaun Higgins and Robbie Tarrant as notable absentees last night.

For the record, Hawthorn was missing Jordan Lewis, Grant Birchall and, of course, Jarryd Roughead.

North coach Brad Scott watched his side gift a whopping 88 points to Hawthorn from their own turnovers. If Scott had a bad bout of gastro last week, those turnover numbers may have inflicted a chronic migraine overnight.

The Hawks have spots to fill following the exits Brian Lake, David Hale and Matthew Suckling, but this was very much the performance we’ve come to expect.

They were cooler than the other side of your pillow. None more so than Sam Mitchell, who cruised around the ground like a Mustang in third gear to rack up a staggering 45 possessions, 17 contested.

Pre-season or not, it is a ridiculous number. He was worn like a glove in the first half by Ben Jacobs, who made a name for himself in the second half of last season as a reliable midfield stopper. That counted for zilch last night, as the evergreen on-baller did as he liked, and then some.

Sam Mitchell lead the way with 45 disposals, the highest total in an official pre-season match in the last 15 years.

Luke Hodge set the tone as he so often does. The skipper monstered his old sparring partner Andrew Swallow in a one-on-one marking contest in the first minute of the game. His set shot from 15m was touched on the mark, but no matter. Hodge simply crumbed a loose ball in the goalsquare 40 seconds later and duly buried the game’s first goal.

Isaac Smith was like a car in the Mitchell convoy, running far and wide for 25 touches, as did Brad Hill (24).

The Hawthorn zone completely overwhelmed the Kangaroos and Josh Gibson (31 possessions, nine marks) duly had a picnic. Luke Breust kicked four goals and Jack Gunston showed spark in his first hitout.

And on it goes.

Of those fighting for chairs at the table, James Sicily sprang to life in the third quarter with a pair of goals, the latter after a strong tackle on Shaun Atley caught him holding the ball.

Jonathan O’Rourke was solid with 20 possessions and Daniel Howe again showed this level isn’t beyond him.

After a bright start, North Melbourne disappeared. They lost the inside 50s 41-63 and allowed the Hawks to rack up 75 more uncontested possessions. It was a drubbing, really.

But every footy fan who loves positive football should pray Daniel Wells stays fit this year because you’re going to see magic. Twelve games in the last two years is nowhere near enough for a player of this ilk.

Wells was his club’s shining light last night, finishing with 24 touches at 92 per cent efficiency and eight score involvements.

But Saturday night was about Hawthorn.

That Round 1 Easter Monday clash against Geelong can’t come soon enough.

HAWTHORN 2.16.11 (125)

def

NORTH MELBOURNE 0.12.8 (80)

GOALS

Hawthorn: Breust 4, Ceglar Sicily Gunston 2, Duryea Schoenmakers super goal, Hartung Hardwick McEvoy Puopolo Hodge Rioli

North Melbourne: Petrie 3, Thomas Dal Santo Goldstein Wright Ziebell Cunnington Garner Brown Wells

BEST

Hawthorn: Mitchell Gibson Hill Breust Smith Rioli Gunston

North Melbourne: Wells Ziebell Petrie Goldstein Harvey

Originally published as NAB Challenge: Hawthorn defeats North Melbourne by 45 points at Etihad Stadium