Hawthorn has made amends for last year’s grand final loss with a 15-point win over Fremantle at the MCG.
But it was Jack Gunston, not Lance Franklin who led the Hawks to victory with a superb four-goal performance in the 11.11 (77) to 8.14 (62) win.
In front of a huge crowd of 100,007, the Hawks looked good for most of the day before being put under pressure by an inspired third quarter from the Dockers.
In the end, experience told as Hawthorn held off a late charge from the Dockers to seal their 11th VFL/AFL flag.
Fremantle could not reproduce the same early pressure they had used to ground Sydney in the preliminary final.
Kicking for goal was a difficult process – in the first half Fremantle had 12 shots but kicked only one goal, with five behinds and five missed efforts.
Hawthorn led by two goals at quarter time and by 23 points at the half.
The Dockers hit back in the third term, booting 5.4 to 3.3 to sew some doubt in the hearts of the Hawks.
But a couple of bad final term misses for Fremantle stopped the chance of an upset, and Hawthorn sealed a first premiership win since 2008.
Hawthorn: 11.11 (77) – J Gunston 4, J Roughead 2, L Franklin, C Rioli, I Smith, L Breust, B Hill
Fremantle: 8.14 (62) – M Pavlich 3, M Walters 2, T Mzungu, C Mayne, D Pearce
Look back at how it all unfolded in Grandstand’s grand final blog.
