HAWTHORN has bounced back from last week's blip against North Melbourne in style, the reigning premier showing its trademark class to see off a spirited Adelaide by 12 points at Adelaide Oval on Friday night.
The Hawks led at every change, and made their decisive move in the third quarter to propel them to a 15.14 (104) to 14.8 (92) victory that improved their record to 12-4 and returned them to the top of the ladder.
The win was Hawthorn's fourth in succession against Adelaide, and the Hawks have now won five of their past six games overall.
The Crows missed a chance to jump into the top eight with the loss, which dropped them to 8-8 for the season and broke a two-game winning run.
Hawthorn turned the screws in the third quarter, after Josh Jenkins threatened to break the game open for the home side with an eight-minute purple patch that produced three of his five goals for the night.
The Hawks booted three quick goals to reclaim the lead after Jenkins' blitz, and kept Adelaide out of its forward 50 for 10 minutes to take a telling 16-point lead into the final change.
Hawthorn then all but sealed the result when Luke Breust and Jonathon Ceglar added goals in the early stages of the final quarter, breaking Adelaide's resistance.
The Hawks had an even spread of contributors, Sam Mitchell superb in the midfield and Jack Gunston prolific up forward for the second consecutive Friday night with four goals.
Patrick Dangerfield (a career-best 41 possessions) and Brad Crouch (40) were prominent for the Crows, as was Jenkins before he hurt his left ankle late in the third term and had limited impact thereafter.
Earlier, Hawthorn took a six-point lead into the main break after two late goals saw it arrest a second-term charge by the Crows.
The Hawks looked sharp early, racing to a 20-point lead on the back of three goals from ex-Crow Gunston, whose second major came after a spectacular high mark.
The Crows edged back into the contest with two goals in the last two minutes of the first quarter, and their tall forwards looked in ominous form early in the second term, James Podsiadly and Jenkins sharing three goals between them as the home side stormed into the lead.
Hawthorn rallied late, goals from returning ruckman Ben McEvoy and a snap from sharpshooter Breust seeing the visitors to a narrow half-time advantage.
ADELAIDE 3.0 7.4 11.4 14.8 (92)
HAWTHORN 4.3 8.4 13.9 15.14 (104)
GOALS
Adelaide: Jenkins 5, Podsiadly 2, Walker 2, Wright, Betts, Lynch, Smith
Hawthorn: Gunston 4, Breust 3, Simpkin 2, McEvoy 2, Ceglar 2, Burgoyne, Duryea
BEST
Adelaide: Dangerfield, Crouch, Jacobs, Smith, Sloane, Jenkins
Hawthorn: Mitchell, Birchall, Gunston, Suckling, Hodge, Simpkin
INJURIES
Adelaide: Nil
Hawthorn: Nil
SUBSTITUTES
Adelaide: Scott Thompson replaced by Jason Porplyzia in the final quarter
Hawthorn: Will Langford replaced by Ben Ross in the final quarter
Reports: Nil
Umpires: Nicholls, Chamberlain, McInerney
Official crowd: 50,321 at Adelaide Oval
