The Saints bounded out of the blocks with the opening five goals and a 35-point first quarter lead before Hawthorn, after losing key defender Stephen Gilham and ruckman David Hale in the opening term, instigated an extraordinary turnaround.
The Hawks responded with the next five majors in the second period to lead by four points at the long change before totally dominating the second half as the lowly Saints Kilda added just five more goals to their promising first-quarter haul.
Lance Franklin, who was forced to alternate in the ruck with the outstanding Jarryd Roughead, revelled in the fourth term, finishing with five goals as Hawthorn eventually coasted to a 14.15 (99) to 10.9 (69) triumph and a 5-2 record.
"To come back from five goals down and losing two important big players, the resilience of the group was superb today," Hawks coach Alastair Clarkson said.
"It was a very, very important win for our club today, and we'll hopefully build our season from this point."
The victory was soured by what appears to be serious knee injuries to both Gilham and Hale while second-gamer Paul Puopolo was forced to battle through in obvious discomfort.
But with just two fit men on the bench the Hawks responded in the best possible fashion, with 13 players registering 20 or more possessions in what was a terrific all-round display by both Hawthorn's experienced leaders and young crop.
Debutant Luke Breust, who was subbed on after Gilham crumpled in a heap trying to change direction in the first two minutes, booted two goals along with Shane Savage.
"To see Gil and then Haley go down pretty early in the game, then the boys to fight on with the 20 left was a great effort," Breust told Grandstand.
Nick Reiwoldt kicked three first-term goals to have the St Kilda faithful dreaming of a revival.
But those hopes were vanquished in another insipid performance by the 1-1-5 Saints, whose season is in crisis with clashes against the Demons, Dockers, Magpies, Bulldogs and Cats in the next five weeks.
Arryn Sipos (two goals) and Sam Fisher (31 touches, 11 marks) were the only real shining lights for St Kilda while the much talked about, poor form of Brendon Goddard showed very little sign of improvement.
Breust has spent two-and-a-half seasons on the Hawks' rookie list, but said he is ready to play his role as a high half forward and received some valuable advice from coach Clarkson when he was called in to the action early.
"Clarko just said don't worry about the possessions, that'll come, just try and get yourself in to the game with tackles and forward pressure and the ball will fall your way after that,"
"I think that was great advice."
The 20-year-old from New South Wales switched to AFL at just 15 after realised he did not have the body shape to follow in the footsteps of former rugby league star and cousin Trent Barrett.
"I was never going to be big enough to play a good role in an NRL side. I was never going to be tall enough or built enough, so that probably swayed me," Breust added.
Hawks: 14.15 (99) - L Franklin 5, L Breust 2, S Savage 2, B Sewell, J Lewis, J Roughead, L Shiels, M Osborne.
Saints: 10.9 (69) - N Riewoldt 3, A Siposs 2, J Cripps 2, A Schneider, D Polo, S Dempster.
Tags: sport, australian-football-league, australia, vic, hawthorn-3122, st-kilda-3182 First posted May 15, 2011 16:02:00
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