Jai Newcombe’s centre-square mastery and Nick Watson’s genius in attack catapulted Hawthorn to an eight-point quarter-time lead over Adelaide.
The Hawks have absolutely monstered the Crows in the middle.
Newcombe racked up the first three clearances of the match – all resulting in Hawk goals – and already has a whopping five centre-bounce clearances for the match.
Adelaide, by contrast, have yet to register a single clearance from centre-bounce.
After coughing up three goals in the first four minutes, the Crows steadied and briefly levelled, before Watson pulled a rabbit out of his wizard hat late in the term, a stunning long snap from the south-western boundary line, which he followed by eyeballing the home fans with his arms aloft while telling them “what now … what now”.
Adelaide are far from out of it, but they desperately need to slow Hawthorn’s midfield dominance and start use the ball smarter when entering attack.