Sydney superstar Adam Goodes celebrated breaking the Swans’ AFL games record with three second-half goals in a stirring comeback win over Hawthorn in Launceston.
The Swans trailed by 20 points at halftime, but swamped Hawthorn with an incredible 11.6 to 2.3 second half to win 16.10 (106) to 10.9 (69) in front of 19,217 fans at Aurora Stadium.
Goodes sparked Sydney’s comeback with the first two goals of the third quarter and added another in the last in his 304th game, which took him past 2005 premiership teammate Michael O’Loughlin’s mark.
It kept the Swans unbeaten after five rounds, while the Hawks have slumped to a 2-3 record, with the worrying loss their first in their past eight visits to Launceston.
Josh Kennedy was excellent in the midfield for the Swans, Ryan O’Keefe had a big first half, while Craig Bird, Jarrad McVeigh, Dan Hannebery and Luke Parker were crucial to Sydney’s second-half surge.
Ted Richards and Rhyce Shaw also deserved enormous credit for stopping jobs on Lance Franklin and Cyril Rioli respectively.
Jarryd Roughead kicked five goals for the Hawks, all in the first half.
With David Hale kicking two in the first term, Hawthorn’s big forwards were a key to their side’s early control.
They also received far better delivery than their Swans counterparts, with Sydney bombing numerous poorly-directed kicks into attack in the first quarter in particular.
But Sydney were near-unstoppable in the second half.
The Swans’ fierceness at the ball and defensive desperation in the third term helped them continually win the contested ball and rack up 55 more disposals than the Hawks for the quarter, after Hawthorn had dominated the possession count in the first half.
They could have outscored Hawthorn by more than the 27-0 third-quarter scoreline, with Sam Reid missing two set shots and Goodes spraying a 15m effort out on the full.
It didn’t matter as, after Hawthorn briefly drew level in the final term, Sydney buried them with the last six goals of the match, Goodes sealing the win with a big mark over Ben Stratton to goal and put Sydney 25 points clear at the 25-minute mark.