Red-hot Hawks smash Carlton, surge into AFL's top eight

Sam Mitchell insists nothing has changed for Hawthorn after they hammered down the door to the AFL top eight with a 74-point humiliation of injury-ravaged Carlton.

The Blues lost star forward Charlie Curnow among a raft of setbacks as the "Showtime Hawks" lived up to their billing by running rings around their undermanned opponents in a 16.16 (112) to 5.8 (38) victory in front of 84,773 fans at the MCG.

Hawthorn took control of Sunday's contest with five unanswered goals in the second quarter and went into party mode after half-time, handing Carlton their heaviest defeat under Michael Voss.

In so doing, the Hawks overhauled a gap of eight percentage points on their opponents and climbed into the top eight for the first time this year - at the Blues' expense.

Massimo D’Ambrosio and Josh Weddle.
Massimo D’Ambrosio (L) starred with 31 possessions while Josh Weddle (R) had three goals.

After starting the season 0-5, Hawthorn are now in the box seat to play finals with games against bottom two sides Richmond and North Melbourne to finish the home-and-away campaign.

But third-year coach Mitchell is taking nothing for granted.

"We're not there yet," he said.

"For us every game is a final and every game has been a final for probably six weeks.

"We knew we might be able to miss one game out of that, but we did that already when we lost last week.

"If we lose again we're finished. That's our attitude right now."

Dylan Moore.
Dylan Moore was conspicuous for Hawthorn, with 29 disposals.

The banged-up Blues have lost five of their past six games to slide to ninth and are sweating on the result of scans on Curnow's damaged left ankle.

Adam Saad (hamstring), Jack Martin (hamstring) and Lachie Fogarty (collarbone) also failed to finish Sunday's game, while Jordan Boyd (adductor) was injured but battled on.

Curnow went into the match nursing an ankle complaint and lasted just two minutes into the second half before crumbling to the turf.

The two-time Coleman Medal winner had to be helped off the field and wasn't seen again as Hawthorn ran away with a convincing win.

Massimo D'Ambrosio (31 disposals), Dylan Moore (29), James Worpel (25) and Conor Nash (25) ran riot through the midfield and captain James Sicily (30) shone as the leader of a watertight defence.

Calsher Dear, Josh Weddle and Jack Gunston kicked three goals each, while Jack Ginnivan and substitute Luke Breust added two apiece.

General action from the match.
Hawks were seemingly lining up to punish Carlton all day.

Mitchell was thrilled with the Hawks' defensive consistency and pressure but was left wanting more ruthlessness from his side.

"There were a couple of phases in the game when Carlton were trying to slow it down and we started to slow it down too," he said.

"We talk a lot about controlling the narrative of the game and we didn't do that as well as we would've liked early on."

Carlton midfielders Matt Kennedy (33 disposals, six clearances) and Patrick Cripps (25, eight) fought against the tide as their side's best contributors, but the Blues were soundly beaten.

"It was an extremely disappointing day on a lot of fronts and it's not the standard that we're about as a club," Carlton coach Michael Voss said.

License this article

What is AAPNews?

For the first time, Australian Associated Press is delivering news straight to the consumer.

No ads. No spin. News straight-up.

Not only do you get to enjoy high-quality news delivered straight to your desktop or device, you do so in the knowledge you are supporting media diversity in Australia.

AAP Is Australia’s only independent newswire service, free from political and commercial influence, producing fact-based public interest journalism across a range of topics including politics, courts, sport, finance and entertainment.

What is AAPNews?
The Morning Wire

Wake up to AAPNews’ morning news bulletin delivered straight to your inbox or mobile device, bringing you up to speed with all that has happened overnight at home and abroad, as well as setting you up what the day has in store.

AAPNews Morning Wire
AAPNews Breaking News
Breaking News

Be the first to know when major breaking news happens.


Notifications will be sent to your device whenever a big story breaks, ensuring you are never in the dark when the talking points happen.

Focused Content

Enjoy the best of AAP’s specialised Topics in Focus. AAP has reporters dedicated to bringing you hard news and feature content across a range of specialised topics including Environment, Agriculture, Future Economies, Arts and Refugee Issues.

AAPNews Focussed Content
Subscription Plans

Choose the plan that best fits your needs. AAPNews offers two basic subscriptions, all billed monthly.

Once you sign up, you will have seven days to test out the service before being billed.

AAPNews Full Access Plan
Full Access
AU$10
  • Enjoy all that AAPNews has to offer
  • Access to breaking news notifications and bulletins
  • Includes access to all AAPNews’ specialised topics
Join Now
AAPNews Student Access Plan
Student Access
AU$5
  • Gain access via a verified student email account
  • Enjoy all the benefits of the ‘Full Access’ plan at a reduced rate
  • Subscription renews each month
Join Now
AAPNews Annual Access Plan
Annual Access
AU$99
  • All the benefits of the 'Full Access' subscription at a discounted rate
  • Subscription automatically renews after 12 months
Join Now

AAPNews also offers enterprise deals for businesses so you can provide an AAPNews account for your team, organisation or customers. Click here to contact AAP to sign-up your business today.

SEVEN DAYS FREE
Download the app
Download AAPNews on the App StoreDownload AAPNews on the Google Play Store