Hawthorn have handed Essendon the biggest defeat of their nightmare AFL season, thumping the listless Bombers by 108 points at Etihad Stadium.
Even with Hawthorn stars Luke Hodge and Sam Mitchell out due to injury, the depleted Dons were lambs to the slaughter against the reigning premiers in a 23.13 (151) to 6.7 (43) horror show on Friday night.
With 12 of their best players serving anti-doping suspensions, Essendon were always going to struggle this year, but there was an air of resignation about John Worsfold's side as they slumped to their 10th loss in a row.
Perhaps making matters worse, Alastair Clarkson won't be thrilled with aspects of his Hawks' performance in a largely lacklustre affair.
Jordan Lewis led the way with 36 possessions for Hawthorn.
Grant Birchall and Liam Shiels were also prominent, while Jack Gunston, Paul Puopolo and Luke Breust each kicked four goals in the percentage-boosting win.
For the Bombers, David Zaharakis continued his fine season under difficult circumstances with 33 disposals, and Zach Merrett was also influential.
The Bombers started brightly enough, with Joe Daniher - who fought bravely all night - kicking his side's opening two goals.
But that spark was quickly extinguished by the Hawks, who slammed through the next eight goals unanswered to lead by 30 point at quarter-time and 58 at the main break.
The third quarter lowered the bar even further in terms of spectacle, with turnovers coming from both sides in front of the crowd of 27,567 - the lowest for a clash between the two teams at the venue.
The margin was 76 points as the final term got underway, with the Hawks adding junk-time goals seemingly at will before the final siren put the contest out of its misery.
The Hawks picked up a whopping 10.1 percentage points with the emphatic win.
"Percentage is important ... of all the sides in the eight, our percentage was the worst," Clarkson said.
"So to have a convincing victory like that (helps).
"We've got a lot of young players playing in our side at the moment (too), and to have a convincing victory like that is really good for their confidence levels."
Worsfold conceded there were few positives to come out of the game, but he was at least pleased the Bombers were able to win the overall possession count and contested disposals.
"We got enough of the ball but we turned it over with too many really poor clanger kicks straight to the opposition, which was the difference," Worsfold said.
"That's the area where we're miles off in terms of making good decisions when they're fatigued or when they're under pressure."
Brendon Goddard was the only injury concern, the stand-in skipper suffering a badly broken nose at the opening bounce of the game.
Injuries: Essendon: B Goddard (broken nose). Hawthorn: Nil.
Reports: Nil.
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