Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell will not be taking much notice of his team’s extraordinary second-half goal avalanche, while Melbourne coach Steven King took a glass-half-full view of his team’s 35-point win in what was a bizarre game in Launceston on Saturday.

The Demons led by a staggering 96 points during the third quarter before incredibly conceding the next 12 goals to see their advantage whittled to just 23 points in the final term.

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After some nervous moments, with Hawthorn eyeing off what would’ve been the greatest comeback in VFL/AFL history by some margin, Bayley Fritsch and Jacob van Rooyen steadied the ship for Melbourne with the last two goals.

Despite the fightback, Mitchell was more concerned with Hawthorn’s atrocious start to the contest as they were “taught a lesson” and rendered uncompetitive by a ferocious Melbourne outfit.

The Demons set up the win with a near-perfect first half as they opened up massive buffers in contested possessions (82-52), clearances (25-9), centre clearances (8-3), forward entries (37-23) and disposals (200-150) on the back of manic pressure, while also belting the Hawks around the contest and on the outside too.

“Melbourne are not playing for a lot after three-quarter time are they? They know they’ve got the game sewn up pretty much,” Mitchell told reporters post-game.

Demons beat Hawks in incredible match | 01:37

“I wouldn’t read too much into it. I don’t think that was the reality of the game.

“We look at the first half and one team had all their ducks in row and came ready to play and the other team didn’t.

“There was too many problems in the game … we’d kicked one goal and we couldn’t stop their scoring.

“We had problems in every department of the ground and every phase.

“There’ll be some of us that want to look at the second half, but I think we need to be realistic about where we’re at today.

“The first half shows that in a competition like this, if you don’t turn up ready to play, then you get taught a lesson, which we did.”

King, meanwhile, was keen to focus on those aspects of the game as Melbourne snapped Hawthorn’s 12-game winning streak at the venue.

‘We want to play like that everywhere’ | 05:29

“Not an easy place to come down and win so walk away with four points; walk away winning interstate (for the first time in 2026); walk away with a pretty good three quarters of footy,” King said.

“Just so happy and thrilled with the way the boys set the tone of the game early.

“Never sure what you’re going to get off a bye, but things we sort of put in place and focused on to try and refine Demon football I thought came to life for three quarters, especially early in the game, and that was really pleasing.”

King took a philosophical approach to Melbourne’s final quarter as they completely switched off and allowed the Hawks to boot the opening nine majors of the term.

King believed a combination of complacency from his team and Hawthorn belatedly clicking into gear led to the Hawks’ late avalanche of goals.

“We knew Hawthorn would come out and have a run at it,” King said.

Gawn struggles for words after Dees win | 00:44

“As a coach you probably walk away and if you’d told me we’d win by 35 points before we started, I’d take it.

“But just some good opportunities for us to probably sit back and learn from that when momentum’s against us.”

Mitchell was hopeful that the performance was an aberration for his side.

“I’d like to think that’s not where we’re at,” he said.

“We recognise that we’ve got some work to do to be the best side in the competition, which is what we strive for, and we’re not there yet.”

The Hawks were missing star players Nick Watson, Jarman Impey, Karl Amon, Conor Nash and Josh Battle on Saturday, but on a positive note, Mitchell was hopeful that as many as four of them would be back for their clash against Carlton next week.

— NCA NewsWire