HAWTHORN will turn in far silkier performances this season than yesterday's 16-point win over North Melbourne. But it's doubtful the Hawks will surpass the grit shown in the least spectacular but arguably most significant of their three victories to start the new season.

The scoreboard shows that Hawthorn, apart from one minute at the start of the second half, trailed the Kangaroos until two minutes into time-on of the final quarter.

No wonder this defeat hit the Roos particularly hard, being the wrong end of some dubious umpiring only rubbed more salt into the wound.

Perhaps the Hawks were a tad lucky. But the fact they remained in striking distance for most of that time was no mean achievement, given the odds stacked against them. Even before the game.

While the vast bulk of pundits had selected the Hawks to win yesterday, the insiders at Glenferrie knew yesterday was going to be a tough challenge.

There was the job of fronting up after the always-gruelling Perth road trip. There was an opponent who had already proven their capacity to hit the Hawks where it hurts, having won seven of the teams' previous nine clashes, most recently in last year's semi-final.

There was the way North Melbourne began yesterday's game, quickly racking up a near five-goal lead that perhaps should have been even greater.

Finally, there were the injuries to key forward Tim Boyle and young key defender Thomas Murphy, which had both out early in the final term, Hawthorn capable of making only 13 interchanges in a game which had an intensity that left both sides drained.

But somehow they emerged looking stronger, and certainly fresher than their opponent, a six-goals-to-one final term the final emphatic statement of a performance that coach Alastair Clarkson will be able to use several times over for motivational value should things turn sour at some stage this season.

The heroes were plenty, none better than midfielder Brad Sewell, who for a good part of the middle stages of this game seemed to carry his team's ball-winning responsibilities on his own.

Sewell finished with 34 disposals, eight clearances, six tackles, and seven times banged the ball inside his side's forward 50 - more than any teammate.

There was the at-times too hot- headed but never less than fully committed Jordan Lewis, the early run of Chance Bateman, the surprising three-goal contribution of Michael Osborne, the underrated defensive effort of Stephen Gilham on Nathan Thompson.

And it's one which shouldn't be underrated, given that North's failure to produce a goalkicker with more than three to his name probably cost it victory.

With Thompson held, and Aaron Edwards failing to fire a shot, Corey Jones had to shoulder the goalkicking burden pretty much on his own. At the other end, in contrast, the Hawks had the always-enigmatic Lance ``Buddy'' Franklin and Jarryd Roughead sharing nine between them.

Roughead was terrific, full of hard work and second efforts. Ten marks and four goals was an appropriate reward. And Franklin, as we've come to expect, did it again.

North's Josh Gibson put in a fine effort on the emerging star, holding him to 14 touches and just four marks. Yet Franklin still finished with 5.4. On a mediocre day.

The really good players can do that, and so can their teams as a whole. Franklin certainly is, and so are the Hawks. Some comfort, particularly after the deja vu they would have experienced pretty soon after the first bounce yesterday, the script disturbingly similar to last year's semi-final loss to the same opponent.

The Roos had two goals on the board within three minutes to Leigh Brown and Nathan Thompson, both the result of sublime passes by a very conspicuous Daniel Wells.

Like last September also, Hawthorn was becoming frustrated, its aggression directed too much at the man and not enough at the ball, a series of silly free kicks conceded in the process, Jordan Lewis immediately dragged and given a thorough bake by coach Alastair Clarkson after a particularly indiscreet "love tap" on Daniel Pratt.

The Hawks' midfield keys were being well held, Sam Mitchell unusually quiet opposed to Roo skipper Adam Simpson, Brady Rawlings good on Luke Hodge, only Chance Bateman causing the Roo engine room any headaches.

Two quick goals to Corey Jones made it four to one, and when early in the second term David Hale ran into an open goal after a chain of handballs taking in Wells, Hamish McIntosh, Brent Harvey and Shannon Grant, the gap was 27 points.

It would have been easy for Clarkson's side to turn it up then. But that's how this carefully constructed team has continued to grow. From flighty and unpredictable, to exciting but erratic, to at times breathtaking but occasionally vulnerable, to the 2008 incarnation, for whom the ultimate compliment might end up being dependable.

Thirteen goals to seven from that five-goal deficit were the proof of the resolve now shared by the brown and gold. They'll be sharing plenty of wins together because of it, too.