CYRIL Rioli and Lance Franklin have combined for 14 goals to lead Hawthorn to its biggest victory ever, smashing the hapless Power by 165 points at the MCG on Saturday afternoon.

It was the Power's most comprehensive defeat in their history, with the 31.11 (197) to 5.2 (32) capitulation surpassing last week's 138-point loss to Collingwood, which had relegated the 119-point defeat by Geelong in the 2007 Grand Final to second place.

For the second week running and for the third time this season, the Power failed to kick a goal in the first quarter, which wasn't surprising given the ball only went inside 50 four times to the Hawks' 21.

It left Port Adelaide coach Matthew Primus to seriously question his players' commitment, after they failed to demonstrate any form of resilience after last week's shocking loss at home to the Magpies.

As was the case last week, the records tumbled as the afternoon wore on and the Melbourne weather became bleaker.

The winning margin eclipsed the Hawks' previous best - a 160-point defeat of Essendon in round 20, 1992.

The Hawks also recorded their best-ever second quarter score (nine goals, three behinds) at the MCG, and bettered their biggest score since registering 28.27 (195) against Fitzroy in round 21, 1991.

Hawthorn also fell one player short of equalling another of its records - jointly held by Essendon, Fremantle and West Coast - of 16 individual goalkickers.

Franklin and Rioli stole the show. Rioli's six goals were his best career effort, and he also set a new personal best tackle count, with 12.

Franklin fell just short of equalling his highest tally of nine goals, kicking eight.

For the few dressed in teal in the stands, the only real positive was the arrival of 2009 draftee John Butcher.

Butcher took two marks in the first quarter, and while he was inaccurate in front of goal, set up Jay Schulz at one point and booted a goal in the second quarter.

Fellow debutant Tom Jonas also showed promise opposed to Hawthorn skipper Luke Hodge.

But overall, despite Primus making eight changes to last week's line-up, his players simply failed to fire a shot.

Jackson Trengove made mistakes down back and often failed to get in front of his opponent, Nick Salter's bad decision making saw him take a kick-in and kick straight to Rioli for a goal while also ignoring a free Butcher inside 50 in favour of a contest - which the Power lost.

Danyle Pearce lacked intensity down back and was embarrassed at one point when Sam Mitchell calmly stepped around him and kicked a goal in the second quarter.

To underline the performance, by half-time there were four Port Adelaide players - Kane Cornes, Matthew Broadbent, Matthew Lobbe and Jay Schulz - who had failed to register an effective kick.

Contrastingly, Rioli had equalled his best-ever collection of goals with five, Franklin was on four and Mitchell had 21 of the 33 touches that made him best on ground.

The second half produced a better effort from the visitors. After losing the first quarter by 47 points and the second by 45, the Power lost the third by 20 points with skipper Dom Cassisi having 10 touches and the team kicking one more goal than it managed before the main break.

However, as the sky darkened and the temperature dropped, so did the heads of the Port Adelaide players as they finished the game the way they started; goalless and powerless to stop the Hawks' eight six-pointers that put the exclamation point on the result.

Influential players
With the two debutants aside, Cassisi led the way with 24 possessions and a game-high 13 tackles, while Lobbe worked his way into the match and worked hard for 18 hit-outs and 11 touches. 

New faces
Power fans finally got to see bullocking forward Butcher, who was taken with pick No.8 overall in the 2009 NAB AFL Draft, while first-year former Norwood defender Jonas was also in the side. Primus didn't hide either of his charges, with Butcher starting at full-forward and drawing Josh Gibson, while Jonas was pitted against Hawthorn skipper Hodge. Both players stood up well on debut, although Butcher's supply was obviously limited given the Power's overall tally of 29 inside 50s, but his six marks and one goal were highlights, and he showed promise with his contested marking. Jonas' man ended with 19 touches, while he collected nine of his own.

What it means
For the Power, it means they have to once again dissect the wreckage of another awful performance. Why are so many players putting in lacklustre efforts? Why does Primus need to question their attitude yet again? And they'll have to work out just why there wasn't a better effort in the wake of last week's disaster against Collingwood.

What the coach said
Matthew Primus (Port Adelaide)
"There's nothing worse than fronting up and putting a performance like that out there and having to back up all week talking about it, and then getting out on the field and producing another one.

"I'm definitely sick of doing it. These losses haven't been a part of our club but they are at the moment, the last fortnight, and we've got three weeks and then a hell of a lot of time to try and build up the respect we've lost this year, and that's going to take time.

"I'm looking forward to doing that journey with the players I'm going to have here."

Dream Team highlight
For Port Adelaide, only Cassisi cleared 100 with 113, with Robbie Gray was the next best with 90 and Lobbe in after with 71.

QUARTER BY QUARTER
FIRST QUARTER
About the only concern for the Hawks in a powerful opening term was a corked thigh suffered by midfielder Lewis in the opening minute. Otherwise it was a procession, with the Hawks slamming on eight unanswered goals - four of them to the maestro Rioli. Hodge, Isaac Smith, Franklin and Max Bailey also kicked majors, with Bailey’s goal, after a strong contested mark, his first in 17 games with the club. Port trailed by 47 points and just couldn’t get first use of the ball.

SECOND QUARTER
The show went on for the home team and Hawthorn’s 9.3 represented its best ever second quarter in 263 outings at the MCG. Franklin booted three goals for the term, including a brilliant snap after falling to ground during a marking contest. Rioli added another to give him five, equal to his personal best. Lewis and Mitchell each had 21 touches to the long interval. Port kicked its first two goals, to Mitch Banner and Cameron Hitchcock (after a 50m penalty) but the ball use and decision-making was comical at times.

THIRD QUARTER
Better third quarter from Port, winning some contested footy and adding three goals. First-gamer Butcher was presenting well at full-forward and there was life in the Power for much of the term. But the Hawks won the term, kicking six goals of their own. Franklin added another three in a term when his contested marking - perhaps the only average part of his game - came to the fore, while Liam Shiels, Matt Suckling and Grant Birchall also added goals. By the final change, the Hawks had 11 individual goalkickers.

FOURTH QUARTER
Hawthorn has taken plenty of medicine at the hands of Port Adelaide over the years, so there was no let-up by the Hawks in the final quarter, as they added 8.5 to nothing to win by 165 points, the club’s greatest ever winning margin. Franklin added another goal to give him eight for the match, while Rioli added another for his sixth - and it was a beauty, after winning the ball from a tackle while hemmed in on the boundary line, he dribbled the ball through from the wrong forward pocket for a left-footer. Just another party trick from the Hawks, on a day when they had little opposition.

The next four
The Power have two home matches to come - round 22 against the Western Bulldogs and then round 24 against Melbourne - and will come back to Victoria in between to play Essendon at Etihad Stadium. Then, while the Hawks are gearing up for their first final, they'll sadly be jetting off on their end of season holidays and contemplating where the year went wrong.


MATCH DETAILS
Hawthorn          8.1     17.4    23.6   31.11 (197)
Port Adelaide    0.2     2.2      5.2      5.2    (32)

GOALS
Hawthorn: Franklin 8, Rioli 6, Lewis 2, Breust 2, Smith 2, Mitchell 2, Hale, Bailey, Hodge, Sewell, Birchall, Suckling, Shiels, Bateman, Whitecross
Port Adelaide:  Butcher, Schulz, Banner, Hitchcock, Rodan

BEST
Hawthorn: Mitchell, Lewis, Franklin, Rioli, Puopolo, Guerra, Gibson, Birchall
Port Adelaide: Cassisi, Butcher, Lobbe, Jonas
 
INJURIES
Hawthorn: Sewell (back)
Port Adelaide: Nil
 
SUBSTITUTES
Hawthorn: Sewell replaced at three-quarter time by Luke Breust
Port Adelaide: Travis Boak replaced in the third quarter by Matt Thomas

Reports: Nil

Umpires: Schmitt, Armstrong, Keating

Official crowd: 27,532 at MCG

The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the club