Hawthorn’s wastefulness saved winless Melbourne from an absolute belting as the Hawks cruised to a 15.25 (115) to 6.13 (49) AFL victory at the MCG on Friday night.
The win gave Hawthorn consecutive victories for the first time this season and lifted them into the top eight, at least temporarily, but the 66-point margin did not fully reflect their general dominance.
Hawthorn had 165 more disposals than Melbourne and entered their attack an extra 28 times, as the competitiveness that the Demons had shown in recent weeks disappeared.
But some wayward shooting – including 3.7 and another shot out on the full from Lance Franklin – as well as some other botched attacking moves that had seemed set to result in goals, stopped the winners capitalising fully.
Melbourne key forward Mitch Clark kicked his side’s only three goals of the first half, all from marks in the first quarter, as the Hawthorn defence appeared to miss injured big man Josh Gibson early.
Some early Hawthorn errors at close range at the other end, including Cyril Rioli fumbling a handball in space, Jordan Lewis dropping an uncontested mark and Luke Breust missing a 20m shot, meant the Demons led by three points at the first change.
But with the Hawks dominating the midfield through Brad Sewell, Jordan Lewis and Liam Shiels and the likes of Grant Birchall, Matt Suckling and Shaun Burgoyne providing great run, it was only a matter of time before Hawthorn took control.
They surged clear with a 6.6 to 0.2 second term, Franklin kicking two goals for the quarter including a brilliant 45m snap under pressure, while Isaac Smith and Rioli both won free kicks with good tackles to set up majors.
Hawthorn led by 37 at the main break and could have buried the Demons early in the second half, kicking 2.5 in the first few minutes of the third term.
But Melbourne kept the margin respectable heading into the last quarter before the Hawks swept away with five final-term goals to one.
It was Hawthorn’s ninth straight win over the Demons.
Tagger Jordie McKenzie was a solid contributor for the Melbourne, restricting Hawk star Sam Mitchell, but could find himself under match review scrutiny for sliding into the Hawthorn skipper in a contest in the first term.
Hawthorn small forward Michael Osborne was injured late in the match and had to be helped from the ground.