Hawthorn have stretched their winning streak to 11 straight matches with a twenty point victory over West Coast.
- Hawthorn 19.9 (123) bt West Coast 16.7 (103)
FOR the second successive Friday night, an opposition threw the kitchen sink at Hawthorn.
In Round 12, Carlton tried to dazzle Hawthorn with midfield speed and, for the most part succeeded. Statistically at least. But on the only count that mattered, the Hawks held sway on the scoreboard.
Friday night, West Coast - a vastly improved outfit on the one that hobbled past St Kilda at its most recent start - emerged as if shot from a cannon.
With big men blazing at centre clearances and up forward, the Eagles looked the real deal for one of the few times in a season that could generously be described as erratic.
SuperCoach scores and stats
The tactic was clear. Again pump the hosts in the middle and bomb it as high and as quickly as possible to stretch the shorter Hawks backline.
Statistically, again, it worked a treat. By halftime, the Eagles had 33-24 inside-50s, a 22-18 clearance edge and accordingly had the ball in their forwardline an amazing 66 per cent of the time.
Shane Savage kicks a goal against West Coast.
But there was one problem.
Hawthorn booted six goals in each quarter and led by an ultimately critical 26 points.
It's that critical time of the year when coaches are sizing up exactly how to counter the league's powerhouses.
There's talk of slingshot footy off half-back, or of stacking half-back lines to form walls with space ahead into which rebounding teams can run.
But the explanation for Hawthorn's 11-game winning streak - just one off the club record with lowly Brisbane to come next week - is actually far more simple.
The forwardline is elite, perhaps the deepest in years.
Scott Selwood of the Eagles handballs whilst being tackled by Luke Hodge of the Hawks during the round 13 AFL match between the Hawthorn Hawks and the West Coast Eagles at Etihad Stadium.
Reams of paper have been dedicated to Lance Franklin, and his partner in crime Jarryd Roughead - the matchwinner Friday night - has found career-best form.
But it's more than that.
Jack Gunston is ruthlessly efficient when the ball comes his way and Luke Breust would be in All-Australian reckoning as a mediums-sized opportunist.
Tackling terrier Paul Puopolo was a late withdrawal, while livewire Cyril Rioli is poised to return within a fortnight to add to the firepower of a unit that last night produced an extraordinary set of numbers.
Six of nine times the Hawks went inside 50 in the first quarter they kicked a goal.
By halftime that was 12 of 24 -- a staggering 50 per cent success rate.
Lance Franklin works his magic against the Eagles. Picture: Michael Klein
This from a team that already leads the league in that category with a season average of 30.7 before this game.
That it tailed off to 16 of 35 and 19 of 49 by fulltime was an invevitable "market correction".
But keep in mind that West Coast played arguably its best game of the past two months and still came up 20 points short with eight more forward 50 entries.
For other clubs, there's no solution to those numbers just yet.
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