HOT HAWKS TRUMP DEES

Thumping win over Dees ... but stars injured

THEY’RE a happy team at Hawthorn — including superstar Jaeger O’Meara (main picture) — after yesterday’s thumping 67-point win against Melbourne at the MCG. But the Hawks have paid a high price, losing stars Cyril Rioli (far left) and Paul Puopolo (left) to injury. Rioli (knee) and Puopolo (hamstring) could be out of action for several weeks after the Hawks smashed the Demons 18.78.7 (115) to 6.12 (48) in wewet conditions. s.

IT was almost a year ago that Alastair Clarkson dropped the C-words. “Catastrophic change”. The Hawks had lost their first four games of last season, the Jaeger O’Meara trade was supposedly a bust and they could forget about playing finals, Clarko said.

Time to go down the bottom of the ladder, right, after a decade of dominance? Wrong. In what might be the quickest one-year rebuild in history, the Hawks yesterday brushed past a pitiful Melbourne, slamming home 10 straight goals either side of halftime despite a slew of injuries to sit pretty at 3-1. The 67-point win at the MCG was a big statement from the reborn Hawthorn.

If the Hawks can get the chocolates over North Melbourne and St Kilda over the next fortnight — and you would think they would start favourites — the Hawthorn army can gear up for perhaps another crack at a flag.

As for the Dees, they’re not much more than a tease right now. And you have to feel for the fans who probably feel like they have sat through a perpetual 10-year rebuild and were forced yesterday to look enviously upon a rival that could slingshot back into September quicker than you can say Jiminy Cricket.

But maybe that’s just the genius of Clarkson.

And when you consider Hawthorn had lost Cyril Rioli (knee) in the second term, Paul Puopolo (hamstring) in the third and James Frawley had a migraine and was playing full forward for one of the few times in his career, there was plenty of ticker in this brown and gold victory.

One of their best in a while, you would think.

And Tom Mitchell did not have a huge impact, shut down by Nathan Jones. Yes Mitchell still had 13 clearances, but in his absence Liam Shiels took charge, riding shotgun alongside O’Meara. Shiels has been dubbed a future Hawthorn skipper and he played one of his best games in years.