HAWTHORN has one of the most powerful forward lines in the competition, and when it fires, it gets everyone talking.

Alastair Clarkson has an embarrassment of riches at his fingertips – with Lance Franklin, Jarryd Roughead, Jack Gunston and David Hale all capable of leading any forward line in the league.

But this quartet is on the same team, they all wear the brown and gold stripes of Hawthorn and they provide opposition teams a headache week in, week out.

If that’s not enough scoring power, the Hawks also possess some of the best small forwards in the league, with Luke Breust and Cyril Rioli adding to its scoring power.

So far this season, the Hawks have kicked 807 points in its seven matches – an average of 115 points per game.

That record is second only to Essendon, who have kicked 827 points in seven games, an average of 118 points.

When comparing the two teams, however, the Hawks have had a tougher start to the season than the Bombers who have played against ladder dwellers Melbourne and Greater Western Sydney.

Impressively, Hawthorn averages 17 goals per game against the competition’s top sides , having played each of last year’s finalists in the first seven games of 2013.

But, it is its recent return of 18 goals against the reigning premiers that has caught the eye given the performance of its forward line.

Roughead kicked four against the Swans on Saturday night to be the leading goal kicker on the ground, while Franklin, Gunston and Hale all chipped in with a lazy three goals each.

It is the stuff dreams are made of.

Speaking exclusively to hawthornfc.com.au after his team’s 37-point win over Sydney on Saturday night, Gunston said the team’s ability to mix and match the forward line to keep the opposition guessing is a weapon.

“It’s definitely a positive, it means we can mix and match who we want to set up in the forward line – it might be the talls deep or the smalls deep,” he said.

“It’s just good to be able to mix it around and keep the opposition guessing.

“The talls did the job tonight (Saturday) but no doubt next weeks the smalls could do it so it’s good.”

The spread of goal kickers and weapons inside 50 has been a feature of Hawthorn sides for a number of years now, particularly in its premiership season, 2008.

In that year, the Hawks’ forward line was led by Franklin and Roughead, it had a dangerous first-year player in Rioli buzzing around then, it had Mark Williams who was the Club’s dual goal kicking leader in 2005 and 2006.

Also in the forward line that year was Stuart Dew – the hero from the 2008 Grand Final and the former Port Adelaide star known for his prodigious kicking and sense around goals.

Then, if you cast your minds back to the 1990s, the Hawks had one of the best forward lines led by Jason Dunstall.

Despite his goal kicking record that features hauls of 16 and 17, Dunstall too, had his sidekicks and the Hawks a number of weapons.

In Hawthorn’s premiership winning year, 1991, it had a spread of goal kickers that included names like Dermott Brereton, Paul Hudson, Tony Hall and Darren Jarman.

Go back two years, and Dunstall, Brereton and Hall were joined by Peter Curran and Gary Buckenara.

Having a spread of goal kickers has been the Hawthorn way for years and the current crop of forwards are merely following in the footsteps of its predecessors.

Not to say it hasn’t been a recruiting masterstroke by Alastair Clarkson and his team.

Gunston says having a number of player who can step up and kick multiple goals gives the entire group confidence that it doesn’t rely on one player to kick a bag of goals for it to win.

“Not everyone is going to have a great game every week, when some blokes are down we’ve got others to step up,” he said.

“That’s a great thing for this footy club and it’s been like that for years.

“As long as everyone is playing their role, then we’re going to get good results.”